Objective: To explore the potential categories and heterogeneity of father educational involvement and its relationship with junior high school students social emotional competence, so as to provide theoretical support for constructing standardized father involvement intervention strategies in education. Methods: From April to May,2023, a stratified cluster random sampling method was employed to recruit 2 075 students from 11 public junior high schools across urban and rural areas in Dalian of Liaoning Province, Taiyuan of Shanxi Province, and Shenzhen of Guangdong Province. Participants completed the Father Involvement Scale for Junior High School Students, the Social emotional Competence Scale, and a self designed demographic questionnaire. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subtypes of father educational involvement. Chi square test was conducted to examine differences in the distribution of these subtypes across sociodemographic variables, and multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess associations between father educational involvement profiles and students social emotional competence. Results: Four distinct latent profiles of father educational involvement were identified: low involvement (6.8%), moderate involvement (47.9%), high expectation-low participation(34.3%), and deep involvement (11.0%). The distribution of these profiles differed significantly by grade level, paternal educational and occupation ( χ 2=32.90, 183.04, 197.56, all P <0.01). A significant gradient was observed in social emotional competence scores across the four groups, with the deep involvement group scoring highest ( 4.45 ), followed by moderate involvement (4.11), high expectation-low participation(3.97), and low involvement showing the lowest scores (3.83). Conclusions Father educational involvement among junior high school students exhibits marked heterogeneity, and different involvement patterns are associated with varying levels of social emotional competence. Differentiated father educational involvement strategies should be adopted to facilitate the development of social emotional competencies among junior high school students.