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. 2025 Aug 21;15(8):1137.
doi: 10.3390/bs15081137.

Reshaping the Ability-Strategy Link in Emotion Regulation: The Role of a Structured Picture-Book Intervention for Preschoolers

Lihong Wang  1 , Ran Cui  1 , Na Wan  2   3 , Wei Hu  4
Affiliations

Reshaping the Ability-Strategy Link in Emotion Regulation: The Role of a Structured Picture-Book Intervention for Preschoolers

Lihong Wang et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

Emotion-regulation ability and strategy (i.e., the specific behaviors used to manage feelings) are crucial for preschoolers' socioemotional development. This study investigated whether a structured picture-book intervention could enhance these components and, critically, reshape the relationship between them. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design was employed with 60 preschoolers (aged 4-5) assigned to an intervention or a passive-exposure control group. The intervention group engaged in bi-weekly, structured emotion-themed picture-book activities for eight weeks. Results from repeated-measures analyses indicated that the intervention group showed significantly greater gains in emotion-regulation abilities (i.e., recognition, expression, regulation) and more frequent use of positive strategies (e.g., cognitive reconstruction, seeking support) compared to the control group. Crucially, the intervention altered the relationship between ability and strategy. In the intervention group, the correlation between overall emotion-regulation ability and the use of negative strategies shifted from non-significant at pretest to significantly negative at posttest. Conversely, this relationship shifted to significantly positive in the control group. These findings suggest that structured interventions not only improve discrete emotion skills but also foster a more adaptive integration of ability and strategy use, preventing the maladaptive pattern where higher ability paradoxically links to greater reliance on negative strategies.

Keywords: ability–strategy relationship; emotion-regulation ability; emotion-regulation strategy; preschoolers; structured picture-book intervention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Intervention effects (posttest score minus pretest score) on emotion-regulation ability in the four sub-dimensions of recognition and understanding, expression, regulation, and application between the intervention and control groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Intervention effects (posttest score minus pretest score) on emotion-regulation strategies in the positive strategy and the negative strategy use between the intervention and control groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Intervention effects (posttest score minus pretest score) on emotion-regulation strategies in the five positive strategy dimensions of cognitive reconstruction, problem-solving, seeking support, alternative activities, and self-comfort, and the three negative strategy dimensions of passive coping, emotional venting, and aggressive behavior between the intervention and control groups.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The correlation between the scores of emotion-regulation ability and positive emotion-regulation strategies or negative emotion-regulation strategies in the pre-intervention and post-intervention tests of both the intervention group and the control group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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