Currently submitted to: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Apr 2, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 2, 2026 - May 28, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The Effects of Video and App Games on Emotion Regulation in Youth: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Emotion regulation is a transdiagnostic construct encompassing distinct strategies that can be used to encourage adaptive coping skills in support of youth (ages 10 to 24) mental health. Emotion regulation is responsive to training and intervention, such as via video and app-based games. Previous literature shows that video and app games impact the psychological well-being of youth and may be an accessible way to help youth learn about and implement emotional regulation strategies in their lives.
Objective:
Previous reviews have not focused on video and app games that support emotion regulation and how they may be beneficial to youth with and without a mental health diagnosis. This scoping review sought to collect, review, and understand the scope of research on the effects of video and app games on emotion regulation outcomes in youth, and areas in need of further investigation.
Methods:
We conducted a scoping search of MEDLINE, Embase and APA PsycINFO from the beginning of the database up to and including December 2025. Inclusion criteria consisted of studies in English, had youth with a mean age between 10 and 24 years old, and evaluated an intervention or an intervention adjunct to help improve their emotion regulation skills using a video or app game. We extracted population characteristics, the video game or app, the effectiveness of the intervention, and emotional regulation strategies addressed.
Results:
Following the screening of 14,456 studies, we identified 35 studies for inclusion in the final review. Five recurrent outcomes emerged: overall emotion regulation, improving mood/mood repair, reducing stress/anxiety, reducing mental health disorder symptoms, and increasing understanding of one’s own emotions.
Conclusions:
While most games led to reported improvements in these areas, some studies reported areas of continued difficulty. The results highlight that video and app games could serve as beneficial, easy-to-access tools to support youth emotion regulation through various strategies, with areas for future research and digital health improvement.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.