Does Mandatory Divorce Education Work?
In a court-mandated, child-focused class for divorcing parents (based on the video, Children in the Middle, first edition), parental mastery of skills taught were evaluated both immediately after the class and 6 months later. Parents perceived the class content to be realistic and useful. Skills were effectively learned and were maintained over the evaluation period. Parents reported that they were less angry at their ex-spouse, and were successful in dramatically lowering exposure of their children to parental conflict. Relative to a comparison group of parents divorcing the year before the classes were initiated, parents completing the class were better able to work through how they would handle difficult child-related situations with their ex-spouses, and were willing to let their children spend more time with the other parent. Children of parents in the treatment group had fewer school absences, and made fewer visits to physicians. Among parents, few gender differences were observed--mothers perceived the class to be more realistic; fathers showed greater improvement on some skills. Similarly, interest level in further training was not predictive of class benefits, suggesting that enthusiasm for parenting training is probably not essential in order for benefits to be obtained.