Protecting Children: A Study on the Intervention Effect of Parenting Education During the Cooling‐Off Period of Divorce

ABSTRACT This article explores the effectiveness of parenting education during the divorce cooling‐off period on improving the mental health of children from divorced families in China. In this study, 32 participating families were assigned to the experimental group ( n = 16) and the control group ( n = 16) and provided the parenting education course intervention to the experimental group within 30 days of the divorce cooling‐off period, one to two times per week for a total of six times. The control group did not perform any intervention. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Child–Parent Relationship Scale, the Wong and Law EI Scale, the Child–Parent Communication Scale and the Conflict Tactics Scale were measured before and after the intervention. The results showed that compared with the control group, the parent–child relationship in the experimental group was improved, the conflict between parents decreased, and the level of depression, anxiety and stress in their children was significantly reduced. The parents' interview report of the experimental group during the intervention period also provided evidence support for the course intervention effect. These findings suggest that parenting education has an important positive role in promoting the mental health of children during the cooling‐off period of parents in China.