To analyze the longitudinal relationship between cumulative multiple risks and depressive emotions in primary and secondary school students, and to examine the mediating role of executive function in the association, so as to provide scientific evidence for preventing and alleviating depressive emotions in adolescents.

Using convenience sampling, 946 students from Shandong and Hunan provinces were tracked for one year (December 2023 to December 2024) regarding their exposure to multiple risks, executive function, and depressive emotion. Pearson correlation analysis was employed to examine variable relationships, while mediation modeling with Bootstrap testing (5 000 iterations) was conducted to verify the mediating effect.

At baseline, the prevalence of survival risks was relatively low, with 37.98% of primary school students and 30.87% of middle-school students reporting no exposure to such risks. In contrast, developmental risks and harmful risks showed substantially higher prevalence, with 63.20% of primary school students and 69.63% of middle-school students experiencing two or more risk factors in developmental risks, and 44.81% of primary school students and 71.60% of middle-school students experiencing two or more harmful risks. After controlling for gender, age, baseline executive function and depressive emotions: higher cumulative developmental risks (β=0.06, P < 0.01) and hazardous risks (β=0.08, P < 0.01) predicted elevated depressive emotion, while survival risks showed no significant prediction (β=0.03, P>0.05). Executive function significantly mediated the effects of both developmental risks (Effect=0.02, 95%CI=0.01-0.04) and hazardous risks (Effect=0.02, 95%CI=0.01-0.04) on depressive emotion (both P < 0.05).

Increased exposure to developmental and hazardous risks predicts poorer executive function, which subsequently exacerbates depressive emotions in students.