Abstract: Submission #126

Abstract The influence of father absence does not fade away as the child grows, but it hangs on to the children, young adults and offspring for life unless addressed. The purpose of the study is to describe the influence of father absence on the psychosocial well-being of college students. Few studies show that the father absence effect does not fade away. As such, there is a gap in studies that address the long-term impact of father absence and how these effects influence the psycho-social well-being of students. Therefore, the objectives of the study are: (a) to describe the emotional experiences of students with absent fathers, (b) to describe the social relationships and support systems of students with absent fathers, (c) to describe the academic performance of students with absent fathers, and (d) to assess the coping mechanisms used by students with absent fathers. This study is inductive; the qualitative approach and descriptive design will be adopted. The study population will comprise students from Taletso TVET College who have absent fathers. Participants will be sampled by purposive and snowball sampling. The recruitment process will involve advertising the study on a Facebook page and the WhatsApp groups of the college. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews. The interviews will be conducted online through Zoom meetings and will be further analyzed thematically. When analysing data thematically, the researcher will identify common themes and patterns in the students’ description of the influence of father absence on their psychosocial wellbeing. This study will contribute to the available studies, policy amendments, describe the influence of father absence on the psychosocial well-being of students and prove whether father absence affects young adults and perpetuates an intergenerational cycle of poverty.