ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FATHERS' WORK-RELATED AB SENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN

Abstract

Background: Father contribute to children's educational progress through Academic guidance, supervision, and emo tional support. However, evidence regarding the association between father's work-related absence and children's ac ademic outcome's remains limited, particularly in Pakistan. Objective: This study aimed to assess and compare academic performance including attendance, classroom interac tion and grades among school-going children whose fathers were work-related absent and consistently present at home. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 183 male students enrolled in class 7-10 from three government schools in Hyderabad, Pakistan. Participants were classified into father-present (n=109) and father absent (n=74) groups according to predefined eligibility criteria. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire consisting of the Children's perception questionnaire (CPQ), Teachers' perception questionnaire (TPQ), and official school records for annual academic performance and attendance. Descriptive Statistics and independent-samples t test were performed using SPSS version-23.0, with statistical significance set at p <0.05. Results: Students whose fathers were consistently present at home demonstrated significantly higher academic per formance (72.05% vs 66.66%, p=0.002) and school attendance (78.83% vs 71.50%, p< 0.001) than those experiencing work-related paternal absence. The father-present group also reported greater enjoyment of attending school and spent more time studying at home, while teacher reported higher classroom participation and homework completion. Overall TPQ scores did not differ significantly between groups. Notably, student in father-absent group demonstrated signif icantly greater participation in extracurricular and creative activities (p<0.001), despite lower academic engagement and achievement. Conclusion: Consistent paternal presence at home was associated with higher academic performance, school attend ance, and selected indicators of academic engagement among school-going boys. Work-related paternal absence was associated with lower academic engagement and achievement while greater extracurricular participation among these students represents an important finding for future research.