ABSTRACT
This study utilised a person-centred, daily diary design to examine how patterns of daily movement behaviours (physical activity, screen time and sleep) relate to emotion regulation in young children. Mothers of 257 Chinese preschoolers (aged 35–83 months) completed daily reports on their children’s after-school movement behaviours and emotion regulation for 14 consecutive days. Multilevel latent profile analysis identified four distinct daily movement behaviour profiles: (1) Less Sleep and Screen, (2) High Engagement, (3) Less Sport and Screen Free and (4) Intensive Sport and Screen. Multilevel regression results indicated that daily behaviour patterns significantly predicted variations in emotion regulation on the same day and across days. Specifically, days characterised by the ‘High Engagement’ profile were associated with higher emotional negativity compared to ‘Less Sport and Screen Free’ days. Demographically, children with higher parental education levels were significantly less likely to exhibit the ‘Intensive Sport and Screen’ profile. These results underscore the dynamic, co-dependent nature of daily movement behaviours and their immediate ‘spillover’ effects on emotional functioning, highlighting the utility of daily diary methodologies in capturing these micro-longitudinal interactions.