Relationships between gross motor skills, psychological resilience, executive function, and emotional regulation among Chinese rural preschoolers: A moderated mediation model.

Background: Emotional regulation is a critical component of emotional intelligence, particularly during the preschool stage, a key period for children's development. Previous studies have demonstrated that executive function mediates the effect of gross motor skills on emotional understanding. However, studies specifically focusing on children from rural areas and investigating the role of psychological resilience are limited. The present study fills this knowledge gap by examining the effect of gross motor skills on emotional regulation and the roles of executive function and psychological resilience among Chinese rural preschool children. Methods: This study included 430 children (aged 61.01 ± 6.98 months, 48.8 % boys) and their teachers from three rural preschools in China. Children's gross motor skills, including locomotor and object control skills, were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-3. Executive function was measured using the Head-Toes-Knee-Shoulder task, and emotional regulation was assessed using the Emotional Regulation Checklist. Furthermore, psychological resilience was examined using the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment. Demographic information was collected, and the cross-sectional relationships between gross motor skills and emotional regulation were investigated through mediation and moderation analyses. Results: Gross motor skills, executive function, and psychological resilience were associated with emotional regulation (p < 0.05), after controlling for sex, age, and only-child status. Executive function was found to mediate the relationship between gross motor skills and emotional regulation, with a mediation effect of 0.045. Psychological resilience moderated the relationship between executive function and emotional regulation (β = 0.078, p < 0.05). Simple slope analysis, based on categorizing psychological resilience into high, medium, and low groups, revealed that preschoolers with a higher level of psychological resilience exhibited a significantly stronger predictive effect of executive function on emotional regulation (β = 0.202, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Gross motor skills significantly affect emotional regulation development in rural preschoolers, with executive function acting as a mediator in this relationship. Psychological resilience was found to moderate the effect of executive function on emotional regulation. The findings suggest that enhancing gross motor skills through physical activities can benefit children by promoting the development of executive function, which is crucial for emotional regulation. On the basis of our findings, we recommend focusing on cost-effective physical activity interventions for motor skills development among rural children while also addressing the development of executive function and psychological resilience. Future efforts should include workshops to improve physical literacy of parents and teachers regarding children's gross motor skills promotion.