The influence of father involvement in adolescents' overall development in Taiwan

Western Studies show that father involvement is predictive of adolescent development; however, there are few studies that demonstrate this relationship in Chinese cultures, including Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of father involvement on adolescents' development in areas of academic achievement, self-esteem, internalizing, and externalizing behaviors in Taiwan. This study utilized dyadic data of 1043 10th graders from wave 5 of a longitudinal study on adolescent development in Taiwan. The study utilized student reports of father involvement, child academic achievement, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, and self-esteem. Structural equation modeling results indicate father involvement significantly predicts child academic achievement, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, and self-esteem. Gender analysis shows that male adolescents exhibited more externalizing behaviors, whereas female adolescents exhibited more internalizing behaviors. The findings of this study provide evidence that father involvement is important for the overall wellbeing of adolescents in Chinese cultures.