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Allgood, S. M., Beckert, T. E., & Peterson, C.  (2012). The role of father involvement in the perceived psychological  well-being of young adult daughters: A retrospective study. North American  Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 95-110.

Bowen, M. (1966). The use of family theory in  clinical practice. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 7(5), 345-374.

Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Retrospect  and prospect. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52(4), 664-678.

Brendtro, L. K. (2006). The vision of Urie Bronfenbrenner:  Adults who are crazy about kids. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 15(3),  162-166.

Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002). A new  wave of evidence the impact of school, family, and community connections on  student achievement. Austin: National Center for Family and Community  Connections with Schools.

Marshall, I. A., & Jackman, G.-A. (2015).  Parental involvement, student active engagement and the ‘secondary slump’  phenomenon—evidence from a three-year study in a Barbadian secondary school .  International Education Studies, 8, 84-96. doi:10.5539/ies.v8n7p84

Ministry of Family, Culture, Sports and Youth.  (2011). National youth policy of Barbados. St. Michael: Ministry of  Family, Culture, Sports and Youth.

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http://vocaroo.com/i/s1WMXIotqmDO

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IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES

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1. Make greater strides to promote paternal contribution in his children’s educational pursuits

2. Develop and fund holistic, strength-based and systemic programs and services that support paternal engagement in the lives of their daughters

3. Increased opportunities for schools and communities to provide more support that fosters and promotes paternal inclusion

4. Develop and fund a therapeutic model using culturally sensitive attachment and ecological theories from a family systems perspective to conduct empirical research with Barbadian fathers and their adolescent daughters

IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES

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This study addresses the previously neglected area of paternal involvement and influence on the educational outcomes of Barbadian adolescent girls

Illustrates the importance of the role of the father beyond financial support

Supports the argument concerning the need to strengthen parental involvement with emphasis on father-daughter dyads

Contribute to historical and current theories on ecological and family systems from a more culturally sensitive perspective

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Findings from this study offer significant insight on the role that fathers play in their children’s education, in contrast to mothers.  Parents, educators and administrators can benefit from these findings by making greater strides to promote paternal contribution in his children’s educational pursuits.   Overall participants responses regarding their relationship with their fathers mixed. Participants thoughts concerning their fathers included their belief that fathers have the ability to better equip their daughters for intimate relationships.  Fathers also need to do a more effective job of communicating with their daughters rather than shifting the responsibility to mothers.  Participants expressed their belief that their mothers and fathers must do a better job of mutually supporting their children despite the quality of the mother-father relationship. Participants conveyed difficulties talking to both parents about social issues such as dating, sex, challenges in school, substance use/abuse and reported most of those discussions are had with their peers though they would like to talk more openly and honestly with both parents without feeling judged, criticized or punishment.

In summary, the themes identified by the participants portray a desire to establish improved relationships with their fathers which consequently will require fathers to be better equipped to meet the financial, emotional and physical needs of their daughters.

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Dialogue Process Themes

Barbadian girls place very high value on education despite the quality of the relationship with their father

Education is viewed as a means to improved quality of life

Fathers are supposed to provide for their children particularly financially

Paternal support contributed to higher value placed upon education

Mother-Father relationship quality influenced the perceptions girls have of their fathers

Educators are not aware of many of the challenges students are facing at home

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Cultural Norms - The standards we live by. They are the shared expectations and rules that guide behavior of people within social groups. Cultural norms are learned and reinforced from parents, friends, teachers and others while growing up in a society (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Differentiation of Self - How the AA girls view their self in relation to others in their circle of influence (Bowen, 1966)

Exosystem - The individual does not have a relationship with the person/individual but is directly impacted by decisions/actions of people/institutions [parent’s employer, school board, prison where her father may be incarcerated] (Brendtro, 2006)

Family Projection Process - How parents transmit their emotional problems to their children (Bowen, 1966)

Father-daughter relationship - The quality of the relationship based on: (1) adolescent girls residing with their biological fathers, (2) adolescent girls residing separately from their biological fathers who have some contact with their fathers, and (3) adolescent girls who have never met or who have no contact with their biological fathers (Allgood, Beckert, & Peterson, 2012).

Macrosystem - Cultural norms, values and beliefs (Brendtro, 2006).

Mesosystem - The level of connection between the members of the AA adolescent girls’ microsystem (Brendtro, 2006).

Microsystem - The relationships and interactions the AA adolescent girls have with their immediate surroundings (Brendtro, 2006).

Home Leadership - Paternal absence or presence

School Leadership - Teachers, Administrators, Counselors, Social Workers

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Scales focusing on perceptions of paternal relationships were not used

School personnel selected initial sample which may have been biased

Researcher was considered an "outsider" and thus participants may have under reported or over reported

One of the sites was among the most prestigious secondary schools and thus students historically perform well academically

The study did not determine the actual #s of fathers present or absent from the home

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Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological system  (Brendtro, 2006)

Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1982)

Bowen Family Systems Theory (Bowen, 1966)

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Participants:
Interviewees. 89 Barbadian adolescent girls from two secondary high schools. School social workers and guidance counselors generated a list of participants meeting criteria. Schools forwarded a request and permission form to parents.

Researcher. An African American female third year doctoral student majoring in Educational Leadership & Management with a concentration in Educational Administration, Alumni Fulbright Ambassador, Fulbright Student Scholar, Cultural Ambassador and enrolled at Drexel University. I also hold a Master's degree in Family Therapy from Drexel University.

Procedure:
Questionnaires were administered to participants during their break period. I conducted (6) focus groups with 6-12 girls per group during lunch. I conducted (10) semi-structured interviews. Audio recordings from interviews were transcribed verbatim. Upon examining the transcripts, I identified common themes.

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Examining paternal engagement from a systems theory perspective can illuminate the role of the father in poor or successful educational outcomes.  The findings have implications for parents, schools, communities and legislators. Developing prevention and interventions to combat the factors adversely shaping educational experiences and outcomes can contribute to the decline in the disproportionate representation of this vulnerable population in poor educational outcomes as well as strengthen paternal engagement.

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In order to improve educational outcomes for Barbadian adolescent girls, it is imperative to understand from the girls' perspective the role and influence of the biological father in the educational experiences and outcomes of their adolescent daughters, as well as factors that may impede or promote paternal engagement.

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Exploring the influence of Barbadian biological father (home leadership) - adolescent daughter relationship quality on the educational outcomes of the girls.  Relationship quality was examined using the collaborative conceptual frameworks of Attachment Theory, Bowen Family Systems Theory and Ecological Systems Theory.

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In Barbados, research suggests that parental contribution among high school students has become more problematic with greater levels of decline becoming more persistent.  Reports indicate that girls favored talking with their mothers concerning interactions within the learning environment to request assistance and ideas (Marshall & Jackman, 2015).  Much of the research on parental contribution is founded exclusively on the mother’s involvement, with insignificant attentiveness to the role of the father.  This omission in previous research has further distorted a deficient illustration of parental contribution.  The Barbados National Youth Council (2011) reports the family is in crisis because of fatherless single-parent families and other salient historical factors. Thus, more research is required to comprehend the role of fathers in their children’s education. For the 2014-2015 academic year the researcher was awarded a study/research grant from the US Department of State and Institute of International Education to conduct this mixed - methods pilot study to address this gap in the literature by pursuing the research question: “How do Barbadian adolescent girls perceive their biological father’s influence on their educational outcomes?” Eighty-nine adolescent girls from two Barbados secondary schools were provided with questionnaires, participated in focus groups and were interviewed one-on-one for this study.