Preprint non-residential fatherhood and academic engagement among Curaçaoan and Dutch young people

Growing up without biological father present in the home has been portrayed as disadvantageous for a range of child and adolescent outcomes. Yet, most studies focus on Western countries, lack cross-country comparisons, and look into outcomes of this family structure for children and young adolescents. As a consequence, we do not know whether correlates of non-residential fatherhood differ between countries and whether they exist in late adolescence and early adulthood as well. This study examined associations between non-residential fatherhood and academic engagement among Curaçaoan and Dutch adolescents and young adults on Curaçao and in the Netherlands. 528 Curaçaoan and 636 Dutch young people completed a digital questionnaire on household compositions and school-related behavioral and emotional (dis)engagement in educational settings in both countries. Because of measurement variance, we estimated structural equation models of academic engagement dimensions separately for Curaçaoan and Dutch participants. Growing up without biological father present in the home was not associated with academic engagement among Curaçaoan and Dutch participants. Additional analyses, however, showed that nonresidence of the biological father was negatively linked to Curaçaoan participants’ educational level. Associations between non-residential fatherhood and offspring later development might be more subtle and less systematic than existing literature suggests.