Mindfulness Exercise and Mental Health in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Mediating Roles of Coping Self-Efficacy and Emotion Regulation.

BACKGROUND: Population aging has increased the importance of identifying behavioral and psychological factors associated with mental health in later life. Mindfulness exercise (ME), defined as mindful attention and awareness during physical activity, may be related to mental health; however, its underlying psychological mechanisms remain unclear. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 450 older adults in Guangdong Province, China. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with 5000 bootstrap resamples. Validated self-report scales were used to measure mindfulness exercise, coping self-efficacy (CSE), emotion regulation (ER), and mental health (MH). RESULTS: ME was positively associated with CSE, ER, and MH. Coping self-efficacy was positively associated with emotion regulation and mental health, and emotion regulation was positively associated with MH. Mediation analysis indicated that CSE and ER jointly demonstrated a significant sequential mediating association between ME exercise and MH. CONCLUSION: ME is associated with mental health among older adults, potentially through coping self-efficacy and emotion regulation. However, given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as a theory-informed associative model rather than evidence of causality. Longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to further validate these relationships.