# School-based mindfulness education and children’s emotion regulation: the mediating role of executive function

## TL;DR

Teaching mindfulness in schools helps children manage emotions, partly by improving their executive function skills like focus and memory.

## Contribution

This study identifies executive function as a key mediator linking mindfulness education to improved emotion regulation in children.

## Key findings

- Children in the mindfulness group showed significant improvements in emotion regulation strategies.
- Executive function components like inhibitory control and working memory were key mediators of these improvements.
- The mindfulness program's effects on emotion regulation were partially explained by enhanced executive function.

## Abstract

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.

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).

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.

Mindfulness education enhances children’s emotion regulation, both directly and through improvements in executive function, supporting its implementation in school mental health programs.