Father involvement and academic achievement in parenting teen girls

Teenage pregnancy and childbearing is an important problem in the United States with significant consequences. Women who have children when they are teenagers tend to have lower levels of education, many drop out of high school and most of those will never return to graduate (Hoffman & Maynard, 2008). In addition to the affects and long-term implications that lower levels of education and dropping out of high school can have on the teen parent, it can also affect the child of the teen parent as well as society. It is important then to investigate variables that could lead to academic achievement and academic success in this specific population. Father involvement can affect both academic achievement and academic success in girls as well as sexual activity among adolescent girls (Cabrera, Shannon, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2007; Ellis et al., 2003; Flouri & Buchanan, 2004; Flouri, 2006; Geddes, 2008; Katz & Van Der Kloet, 2010; Krohn, & Bogan, 2001; Williamson, 2004) and may be a variable that can reduce potential for negative outcomes and play a critical role in academic achievement and success amongst parenting teen girls. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between perceived father involvement during the childhood years from birth through the age of 12, and academic achievement in high school, among teenage mothers. In addition, two subcomponents of interest, closeness and amount of time spent together, were analyzed as predictor variables to determine whether or not one of the variables would be a stronger predictor of academic achievement in parenting teen moms than the other. Finally, influential variables were controlled in order to evaluate whether the relationship between father involvement and academic achievement in parenting teen girls remained significant. Twenty-five parenting teen girls with an age range of 15-19 (mean age = 18.1 years, SD = .81) from four continuation High Schools located in Northern California completed questionnaires addressing father involvement and demographics. Current and overall GPA as well as most recent Standardized Test Scores were collected and utilized to measure academic achievement. A significant and positive correlation was found between overall GPA and closeness as a subcomponent of father involvement. In addition, closeness to a father was a stronger predictor of academic achievement in parenting teen girls than amount of time spent with a father. There were no significant associations found between overall father involvement and academic achievement.