ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
School-based mindfulness education and children's emotion regulation: The mediating role of executive function
Provisionally accepted
Xuhong Wang*
Xuefei Dong- Xi'an Peihua University, Xi'an, China
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Background:School-based mindfulness education has been increasingly implemented to support children's socio-emotional development; however, the cognitive mechanisms underlying its effects on emotion regulation remain insufficiently clarified. This study examined whether mindfulness-based education improves children's emotion regulation and whether executive function mediates this association. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 150 children aged 8-10 years were assigned to either a mindfulness education group or a waitlist control group. The 8-week program assessed emotion regulation (ERC, Emotion Management Scale, Disappointing Gift Task) and executive function (Hearts and Flowers, Digit Span, WCST). Results: The mindfulness group showed significantly greater improvements in emotion regulation strategies (F=15.37, p<0.001) and all executive function components. Mediation analysis revealed significant indirect effects through inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, accounting for 53.8% of the total effect. Conclusion: Mindfulness education enhances children's emotion regulation, both directly and through improvements in executive function, supporting its implementation in school mental health programs.
Keywords: Child emotion regulation, Executive Function, mediation mechanism, mindfulness education, primary school children
Received: 04 Dec 2025; Accepted: 10 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wang and Dong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xuhong Wang
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