Table 7.

Between-group comparisons of primary outcome indicators after intervention stratified by age groups.

Indicator	6-8-year-old group experimental vs. control	9-11-year-old group experimental vs. control	12-14-year-old group experimental vs. control	f-value across age groups	p-value
Post-intervention TTCT total score	228.5 ± 15.2 vs. 198.3 ± 14.1, t = 6.52, p < 0.001	235.8 ± 16.3 vs. 201.5 ± 15.2, t = 7.18, p < 0.001	240.2 ± 17.1 vs. 210.3 ± 16.5, t = 5.34, p < 0.001	6.32	0.003
Aesthetic score (AI-assisted)	81.2 ± 4.2 vs. 65.8 ± 4.5, t = 11.23, p < 0.001	86.5 ± 3.9 vs. 66.3 ± 4.3, t = 16.45, p < 0.001	85.1 ± 4.1 vs. 67.0 ± 4.6, t = 12.67, p < 0.001	4.87	0.010
SCARED anxiety score	13.2 ± 2.3 vs. 20.5 ± 3.1, t = 8.76, p < 0.001	11.8 ± 2.0 vs. 22.1 ± 3.3, t = 11.34, p < 0.001	12.5 ± 2.2 vs. 21.3 ± 3.2, t = 9.45, p < 0.001	2.15	0.122
Visual fatigue score	2.3 ± 0.7 vs. 4.6 ± 0.9, t = 9.12, p < 0.001	2.0 ± 0.6 vs. 5.0 ± 0.8, t = 12.56, p < 0.001	2.2 ± 0.6 vs. 4.9 ± 0.9, t = 10.23, p < 0.001	1.87	0.159
Social expression score	85.2 ± 4.1 vs. 63.5 ± 4.3, t = 16.34, p < 0.001	88.6 ± 3.8 vs. 64.8 ± 4.2, t = 19.45, p < 0.001	87.5 ± 4.0 vs. 65.2 ± 4.4, t = 16.78, p < 0.001	3.24	0.043

Independent-samples t-test was used for between-group comparisons within each age stratum; one-way analysis of variance was adopted to compare the magnitude of intervention effects across age strata. For all indicators, the experimental group showed statistically significantly better outcomes than the control group within each age stratum (p < 0.05), indicating consistent direction of intervention effects across developmental stages.