The emotional value of digital picture books of Guangxi intangible cultural heritage festivals empowering border teenagers’ cultural identity from the perspective of digital narration

Background Teenagers in border areas face multiple risks in their psychological development because of their remote geographical location and insufficient supply of mental health services. Digital picture books of intangible cultural heritage, as an intervention carrier integrating cultural inheritance and digital narration, have yet to be clarified in promoting the psychological and social well-being of this group. This paper explores the relationship between the contact of picture books and the psychological and social well being of Guangxi border teenagers, and tests whether emotional resonance and cultural identity constitute a chain intermediary path between them. Methods Based on a retrospective cross-sectional design, 234 teenagers aged 10–18 in border areas were included to preliminarily test the above-mentioned correlation and mediation mechanism. According to the median contact score of digital picture books, the high contact group ( n = 118) and the low contact group ( n = 116) were divided. PROCESS Model 6 was used to test the chain intermediary effect, and Bootstrap method was used to estimate the 95% confidence interval of indirect effect by repeated sampling for 5,000 times. Results The high contact group was significantly better than the low contact group in emotional resonance, cultural identity, self-esteem and life satisfaction ( p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in symptoms of depression and anxiety between the two groups. The chain mediation effect is significant [Ind3 = 0.055, 95% CI (0.032, 0.083)], and the explanatory power of the model is R 2 = 0.577. The direct effect is negative ( c ′ = −0.087, p = 0.012), but the total indirect effect (0.345) completely offsets its influence, keeping the total effect positive (0.258). Conclusions positive correlation between digital picture books of intangible cultural heritage festivals and the psychological and social well-being of Guangxi border teenagers is transmitted through the chain path of emotional resonance and cultural identity, and the negative characteristics of direct effects suggest that cultural emotional experience is the core link of this correlation model. Combining local intangible culture with digital narrative technology can provide a potential strategy of cultural adaptation for the promotion of mental health in schools in border areas.