Effects of a 2-year randomized controlled trial of parenting centers on caregiver mental health in rural China

This study examines how center-based parenting interventions aimed at improving early child development in rural China affect the mental health of caregivers. Data from an analytic sample of 615 caregiver-child dyads (children aged 6 to 24 months, 48.5% girls; data collection: 2015-2017) in a 2-year cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in 100 villages showed that the intervention had no significant effect on caregiver depressive (β = - .047, SE = .079), anxiety (β = .040, SE = .076), or stress (β = .032, SE = .081) symptoms. Subgroup analyses found no significant difference in effects on mental health by prespecified characteristics after adjustment for multiple comparisons, except that the caregivers of children without social-emotional delay at baseline exhibited lower depression scores after the intervention (β = - .205, SE = .097, p = .043). The findings suggest that the center-based parenting intervention focused solely on strengthening parenting skills may be insufficient to improve caregiver mental health over 2 years.