Father involvement and student achievement: Variations based on demographic contexts

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the relationship between father involvement in school settings and student achievement. The sample, pulled from the first and second waves of the PSID-CDS data set, consisted of 596 families with children aged 5-12 at time 1. Results revealed variations in the relationship between father involvement across time and student achievement based on characteristics of the child and demographic contexts of the families, most notable among these being child ethnicity, child gender, and family income. Findings underscore the need to explore how mesosystem pathways of influence on child development may be context-specific.