Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Being an Overseas Filipino Worker(OFW) seems to be one of

the main occupations nowadays due to the reason that parents

want to give their children better lives or better future. It

gives a lot of benefits to children but there also negative

effect especially when it comes to emotional and social aspects.

Family are harmoniously live together under one roof with the

parents providing all the love, attention and the assurance of

better future for their children. They decide to be an OFW to

give their children.

According to the local studies, clinical psychologists

theorize that children, especially school-aged children, need

more attention from parents, since this is when fundamental

psychological development begins. While it is important to give

a child his/her basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and

education, it is equally important to give love, a sense of

belonging, freedom, fun and immediate acknowledgement of

achievement.

1
 Children of OFWs are prone to emotional, social, and

behaviour problems. It has also been observed that many OFW

children are becoming self-doubting and drug dependents. In

addition, most of the OFW children have become so materialistic

and spend their parent’s money on gadgets and internet gaming

from lack of guidance. The remittance is being wasted on self-

absorption. Basically, migration of one parent or both is a very

agonizing time for children and can trigger destructive

emotions. In the case of an absentee father, children may

develop gender identity problems which become more apparent as

they mature.

Emotional health is an important part of the life of every

child. They can work productively and cope with the stresses of

everyday life. It helps them with other people and contributes

to society. Emotional health requires knowledge, understanding,

and also effort to maintain.

Many parents working abroad assume that their sons and/or

daughters fully understand why they leave; that their departure

is for the children’s benefit as well as their future. Having

said this, it is worthy to note that when they leave their

children, the children more often than not, have no clue where

there mother or father are working or even what work they are.

2
 In other words, there is an obvious lack of intimacy

especially when it comes to social and emotional type.

According to a study entitled Migration and Filipino

Children Left Behind, the Philippines is a major supplier of

labour migrants to more than 100 countries and roughly 1 out of

4 Filipino children are left behind by their parents.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

(commonly abbreviated as the CRC) is a human rights treaty which

sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and

cultural rights of children. As indicated in the CRC, the

family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and

understanding is paramount for the full and harmonious

development of a child’s personality. Every parent knows this

and dreams of co-habiting in such a situation. So, what if the

family environment is skewed and not the perfect blissful notion

of what a family should be? Will a child’s personality be

equally skewed?

According to a study entitled “Migration and Filipino

Children Left Behind”, the Philippines is a major supplier of

labour migrants to more than 100 countries and roughly 1 out of

4 Filipino children are left behind by their parents.

3
 In the 2015 Philippine Statistics Authority survey, the

number of OFWs who worked abroad had reached approximately 2.4

million. This figure consisted of Overseas Contract Workers

(OCWs) – the ones with existing work contracts and who comprise

97.1% of the overall OFWs – as well as the remaining 2.9% who

work overseas without any contract (more than likely illegally)

departure is for the children’s benefit as well as their future.

Having said this, it is worthy to note that when parents leave

young children, the children more often than not, have no clue

where there mother or father are working or even what work they

are. In other words, there is an obvious lack of intimacy and

bonding from an early age.

A study that focuses on children left behind by their

parent(s) working overseas and how their rights are addressed in

the absence of one or both parents finds mixed effects of having

an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) parent on meeting the rights

of the child, using proxy measures. In terms of survival, the

economic advantage resulting presence of an OFW parent does not

seem to have altered health-seeking behaviour, which remains

poor. The number of visits to medical personnel decreases as the

older children are considered. There are also indications of a

high incidence of hygiene-related health problems. Furthermore,

an overwhelming majority of OFW children are not protected

4
against economic shocks. Very few of the families have liquid

assets, since they prefer to invest in new houses and only a few

have private insurance coverage. They also appear to be more

vulnerable to psycho-social shocks brought about by the

splitting-up of families. Moreover, most children of OFWs do not

feel that they have active participation in family decision-

making. Compared to children of non-OFW parents, participation

in community and civic organizations is lower.

“I do wish to emphasize that the OFW split

families are not split because of divorce or

death. The marriage, in most cases, is still

intact. The OFW situation is totally dissimilar.

They leave for Very long periods of time and

their children can, or more likely will, be

psychologically affected. No one can argue that a

young child will fully understand why Mommy won’t

be reading bedtime stories at night or why Daddy

won’t be going to Saturday’s football game. The

fact of the matter is that very few well-adjusted

children will choose a bigger home over their

playmates and the majority of children would

prefer to have their parents hug them and let

them know that everything’s alright. No matter

5
 how much an OFW wants to believe that Skype

offers some type of intimacy or bonding…it

doesn’t. -Gilbert Felengco (Researcher)

The Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) familial culture is

that, whether out of guilt or not, OFWs are inclined to gift

their children the latest models of cell phones, toys and other

unnecessary material options. The expression, “buying love”, is

bandied about secretly. Although children enjoy these presents,

they have more pressing need for a “complete” family. They

would prefer to have both parents present at special occasions;

or a father to talk to about an intimidating classmate; a

mother’s shoulder to cry on whenever a teacher has been

unusually frightening; someone to help choose a dress to wear

during the prom and someone to ask tips from when the recent

crush’s attention is not forthcoming.

Theoretical Framework

According to George Herbert Mead’s theory of social and

emotional learning, children begin to perceive themselves from

the perspective of generalized other, the community as a whole,

because knowing the norms and values of society, children can

begin to perceived themselves from the perspective of the

6
generalized others. They find that separations caused by

overseas often are neither neutral or can have positive effects

on schooling outcomes among their older siblings while negative

effect on the young ones.

He claimed that the absence of OFW parents affect the social

and emotional aspects ,not only on the changes of the students’

educational outcome but also in changes in his/her attitude,

spending habit, way of living and how he/she interact with their

parent(s).

Student’s attitude change because of the absence of their

parents which is expected to be always by their side, whenever

they are down and lonely, whenever they need help because they

feel so helpless and insecure. They are careless in spending

their money,
INPUT not knowing how to spend it wisely and correctly.

1. Profile
They felt ofawkward
the when talking to their OFW parents, sharing
respondents
those
Name stories an telling them how they feel.
Age
Gender
OFW parent
To further discuss the conceptual framework, Figure 1

presents the paradigm of the study.

2. Effects of Having
OFW parents to the
Social and Emotional
aspects of students

7
 PROCESS
OUPUT
1. Data Gathering
1. Identified
Technique
Social and
Emotional Effects
of having OFW
Questionnaire
parents to
students.

Figure 1

RESEARCH PARADIGM

Statements of the Problem

8
 This study discussed the effects of having of OFW parents

Specifically, this study aimed to answer the following

questions:

1. How may the profile of the respondents can be described

in terms of:

1.1 Name;

1.2 Age;

1.3 Gender; and

1.4 OFW parent?

2. How may the students with OFW parents be affected in

terms of:

2.1 Emotional aspects; and

2.2 Social aspects?

Hypothesis

1. There is no significant relationship between the socio-

demographic profile of the respondents and the social and

emotional effects of having OFW parent.

9
 2. There is no significant relationship between the effects of

having OFW parent and the social and emotional aspects of

the students.

Scope and Delimitation

This study focused on determining the effect of having

OFW parents to the social and emotional aspects of students.

This study is limited to selected Junior Highschool,

Grade 7 to 10 students in Araullo University (AU), Maharlika

Highway, Barangay Bitas, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija during SY

2017-2018.

This study considered every aspects of respondent’s

personal information that has an impact to their social and

emotional problems such as age and gender.

Significance of the Study

This study on the Social and Emotional effects of having OFW

parents on student is significant because it can serve as a

database leading to guidelines for parents, guidance counselors

and teachers who need to deal with students having OFW parents.

The research would lead to better understanding when it comes to

social and emotional.

10
 The purpose of the study is to contribute more to the

present studies conducted about this certain topic. Enriching

and correcting the false methods will help and keep the

researchers take on such topics for their own studies.

Besides, insight into the motivation regarding the particular

topic in properly guiding and knowing the conditions of the

students may be of great assistance in creating an act in order

to find ways to understand what they are going through.

Apart from this, the study may also serve as a reference

material for parents who are thinking of leaving their children

behind to work in other countries. It may help parents to know

what the best is for their children and act accordingly. It can

also be away to predict possible areas of concern and ways of

addressing problems of students with OFW parents.

This study would be beneficial to the following:

Parents. This research would help their children to understand

easily the situation of them as OFW workers/parents. .

Students. Through this study, they will use this research for

their emotional and social effects of having OFW parents.

Future researcher. The findings of this study will serve as

accurate and useful information that can be a guide for the

future.

11
Definition of Terms

Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) pertains to a person from the

Philippines who is living and working in another country,

typically on a temporary basis.

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful; Readiness to show

Appreciation; for and to return kindness

Social means relating to society. Is an occasion where the

members of a group or organization meet.

Emotional is relating to someone’s mood; anything to do with

feelings like happiness or anger.

Intimacy means having Close familiarity or friendship,

Closeness.

Aspect is a particular feature of or way of thinking about

something.

Chapter II

12
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the details of methodology. It

presents the research design, source of data, instrumentation

and data collection, as well as tools for data analysis.

Research Design

The study used the descriptive method of research to

identify the effects of having OFW parents to the social and

emotional aspects as perceived by selected Basic Ed students.

Descriptive method of research involves analysis of an extreme

range of phenomena that results in a comprehensive presentation

of statistical tabulations of data.

This method of research was used by the researchers since

this is the most appropriate method in describing the effects in

social and emotional aspects of having OFW parents.

Research Locale

13
 This study was conducted in PHINMA- Araullo University. It

is located at Maharlika Highway, Barangay Bitas, Cabanatuan

City, 3100 Nueva Ecija during the school year 2017-2018. The

university offers elementary, high school, college, and graduate

programs.

In 2004, PHINMA- Araullo University Network (PEN) was

launched with the PHINMA Group’s acquisition of Araullo

University in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. Through the years, it has

expanded into various businesses and currently consists of

companies that deal with energy, financial services, property

and shelter, roofing, animation, BPO and education. It ventured

into the latter in 2001.

The school was established since 1950. It was created by

virtue of a resolution Emmanuel S. Esteban, Atty. Juan S.

Esteban and Mr. Ambrocio S. Esteban.

14
Figure 2. Map of Cabanatuan City

15
Sample and Sampling Technique

The respondents in this study were the selected Basic

Education students who were enrolled during the school year

2017-2018 at PHINMA - Araullo University in Cabanatuan City,

Nueva Ecija. There were sixty (60) students who participated in

this study and they were from Junior High School Department of

PHINMA- Araullo University.

Table 1
Verbal Interpretation Distribution of the Respondents of
Seleted Basic Ed students

Grade Level Total number of respondents

Grade 7 16
Grade 8 16
Grade 9 15
Grade 10 13
Total 60

Instrumentation and Data Collection

1. Data Gathering Instrument

The main data-gathering instrument used in this study was a

questionnaire prepared by the researchers themselves and
reviewed by their adviser.

1.1 Questionnaire

16
 Questionnaires were formulated on what are the

possible effects in social and emotional aspects of having

OFW parents as perceived by selected Basic Ed students in

PHINMA- Araullo University. The questionnaire was divided

into two parts.

The first part of the questionnaire consists of

demographic profile of the students followed by questions

regarding to the parent who work as an Overseas Filipino

Workers. (OFW)

In the second part of the questionnaire, the

researchers use likert scale to identify the effects of

having OFW parents in the social emotional aspects of the

respondents and to measure how they agree or disagree in

the following statement.

The following were observed in the conduct of this study:

1) Permission was secured from the Dean of Basic Education of

PHINMA-Araullo University.

2) The researchers sought permission from the adviser of the

target class for those students who having OFW parents as

the basic of basic aspirations.

17
 3) A complete list of target respondents was secured by the

adviser.

4) After, the administration of the survey the researchers

retrieved the survey forms, tallied respondent’s answers,

and then analyzed the results.

2. Administration and Retrieval of the Instruments Test

2.1 Statistical Treatment of the Data

Weighted mean. This tool was used to assess the

effects in social and emotional aspects of having OFW

parents of the respondents. The result of the computation

gave the data that answered the questions.

The formula for weighted mean is:

WM=

Frequency Counts. The data gathered regarding the

respondents’ variables such as age and gender. We’re

tallied and counted using the frequency distribution and

the formula below:

18
 Where: P = Percentage

f = Frequency

N = number of respondents

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). is a

software package used for logical batched and non-batched

statistical analysis. This application is used to easily compute

the data.

Class Interval. The first step is to determine how many

classes you want to have. Next, you subtract the lowest value in

the data set and then you divide by the number of classes that

you want to have:

Class Interval =

The scale value and verbal description and verbal

interpretation of the responses on the effects of having OFW

parents are as follows:

19
Positive:

Degree of Range Verbal

Responses Description Verbal Interpretation
1.00 Strongly Having OFW parents has strong
1 -1.75 Disagree negative effects on social &
emotional aspects of the
respondents
1.76 – Disagree Having OFW parents has
2 2.50 negative effects on Social &
Emotional aspects of the
respondents
2.51 Agree Having OFW parents has
3 -3.25 positive effects on social &
emotional aspects of the
respondents
3.26 Strongly Having OFW parents has
4 -4.00 Agree strong positive effects on
social & emotional aspects of
the respondents

Negative:

Degree of Range Verbal

Responses Description Verbal Interpretation
1.00 Strongly Having OFW parents has strong
1 -1.75 Agree negative effects on social &
emotional aspects of the
respondents
1.76 – Agree Having OFW parents has
2 2.50 negative effects on Social &
Emotional aspects of the
respondents
2.51 Disagree Having OFW parents has
3 -3.25 positive effects on social &
emotional aspects of the
respondents
3.26 Strongly Having OFW parents has
4 -4.00 Disagree strong positive effects on
social & emotional aspects of
the respondents

20
 CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND PRESENTATION OF DATA

This chapter presents the major findings on the key

problems of the study which were to determine the effects of

having Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) when it comes in social

and emotional aspects of the selected students. The data are

presented in tabular form and are substantiated by analysis and

interpretation.

1. The first sub-tables represent the distribution of the

personal profile of the selected Basic Ed students in

PHINMA-Araullo University:

1. The Profile of the Student-Respondents

This section describes the profile of the respondents

according to age, gender and OFW parent.

1.1 Age

The distribution of the respondents according to age is

shown on table 2.

21
 Table 2
Distribution of the Student-Respondents
According to Age
AGE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
12 5 8.30
13 16 26.70
14 19 31.70
15 10 16.70
16 9 15.00
17 1 1.60
Total 60 100

Mean= 14.08
SD=1.23

The table presents that most of the respondents were 14

years old with 19 or 31.70%, followed by the age of 13 with 16

or 26.70%. Next is age of 15 with 10 or 16.70%, followed by the

age of 16 with 9 or 15.00%. Next is age of 12 with 5 or

8.30%.And lastly is the age of 17 with or 1.60%.

1.2 Gender

Table 3 shows that out of 60 respondents, 32 or 53.30% were

females and 28 or 46.71% were males.

Table 3

22
 Distribution of the Student-Respondents
According to Gender

GENDER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Female 28 46.70
Male 32 53.30
TOTAL 60 100

The statistics above only indicates that there were more

males than females among the selected students at Basic

Education of PHINMA-Araullo University.

1.3 OFW Parent

Table 4 presents the distribution of the respondents

according to their OFW parent.

The table shows that 29 or 48.30% of the respondents had a

mother OFW parent while 24 or 40.0% had father OFW parent. And

lastly 7 or 11.70% said that they both parents is OFW.

Table 4
Distribution of the Student-Respondents
According to OFW Parent

23
 OFW PARENT FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
Mother 29 48.30
Father 24 40.00
Both 7 11.70
TOTAL 60% 100%

Table 4 presents the distribution of the respondents

according on the effects of having Overseas Filipino Workers

(OFW) in their social and emotional aspects.

2. Social and Emotional Effects of Having OFW Parents

The following presents table which includes the social and

emotional aspects of the respondents.

Table 5
Distribution of the Responses of the Respondents
Towards Emotional Effects of Having OFW Parents

Weighted Verbal Verbal Interpretation

Items Mean Descriptio
24
 (WM) n (VD)
I…
become more 1.80 Disagree Having OFW parents has
stubborn positive effects on
social & emotional
aspects of the students
become more 1.96 Disagree Having OFW parents has
sensitive positive effects on
social & emotional
aspects of the students
make 2.60 Agree Having OFW parents has
decisions negative effects on
for myself Social & Emotional
aspects of the
respondents
set my own 2.06 Disagree Having OFW parents has
rules positive effects on
social & emotional
aspects of the
respondents
become 1.68 Disagree Having OFW parents has
irresponsib positive effects on
le social & emotional
aspects of the
respondents
feel alone 2.21 Disagree Having OFW parents has
most of the positive effects on
time social & emotional
aspects of the
respondents
Get the 2.60 Disagree Having OFW parents has
feeling of positive effects on
envy to social & emotional
others who aspects of the
have their respondents
parents
with them
Total 2.13 Disagree Having OFW parents has
positive effects on
social & emotional
aspects of the
respondents

25
 Table 6

Distribution of the Student-Respondents

According to Social Aspects

ITEMS Weighted Verbal Verbal Interpretation

Mean Description (VI)
(WM) (VD)
I…
Become more 3.00 Agree Having OFW parents has
independent positive effects on
social & emotional
aspects of the
respondents

Spend most 2.86 Agree Having OFW parents has

of my time positive effects on
with my social & emotional
friends aspects of the
respondents

Enjoy my 2.30 Disagree Having OFW parents has

friend’s negative effects on
company Social & Emotional
than my aspects of the
family’s respondents

26
Develop my 2.95 Agree Having OFW parents has
skills positive effects on
socializing social & emotional
with others aspects of the
respondents

find 2.45 Disagree Having OFW parents has

difficulty negative effects on
trusting Social & Emotional
someone aspects of the
respondents

Total 2.71 Agree Having OFW parents has

positive effects on
social & emotional
aspects of the
respondents

The table shows that the item “I become more independent”

got the highest weighted mean of 3.00 that has a verbal

description “Agree” which means that having OFW parent has

positive effect on Social and Emotional aspects. Second is the

item “I develop my skills in socializing with others” got the

weighted mean of 2.95 that has a verbal description “Agree”

which means having OFW parent has positive effect on Social and

Emotional aspects. Followed by the item “I spent most of my time

with my friends” got the weighted mean of “Agree” which means

27
having OFW parent has positive effect on Social and Emotional

aspects.

Next is the item “I make decisions for myself” got the

weighted mean of 2.60 that has a verbal description “Agree”

which means having OFW parent has positive effect on Social and

Emotional aspects. Then the item “I find difficulty trusting

someone” got the weighted mean of 2.45 that has a verbal

description “Disagree” which means having OFW parent has

slightly negative effect on Social and Emotional aspects. After

is the item “Enjoy my friends’ company than my family’s” got the

weighted mean of 2.30 that has a verbal description “Disagree”

which means having OFW parent has slightly negative effect on

Social and Emotional aspects. Next is the item “I feel alone

most of time” got the weighted mean of 2.21 that has a verbal

description “Disagree” which means having OFW parent has

slightly negative effect on Social and Emotional aspects.

After that is the item “I get the feeling of envy to others

who have their parents with them” got the weighted mean of 2.16

that has a verbal description “Disagree” which means having OFW

parent has slightly negative effect on Social and Emotional

aspects. Followed by the item “I set my own rules” got the

weighted mean of 2.06 that has a verbal interpretation

“Disagree” which means having OFW parent has slightly negative

effect on Social and Emotional aspects. After that is the item

28
“I become more sensitive” got the weighted mean of 1.96 that has

a verbal interpretation “Disagree” which means having OFW parent

has slightly negative effect on Social and Emotional aspects.

Next is the item “I become more stubborn” got the weighted mean

of 1.80 that has verbal interpretation “Disagree” which means

having OFW parent has slightly negative effect on Social and

Emotional aspects. Last is the item “I become irresponsible” got

the weighted mean of 1.68 that has verbal interpretation

“Disagree” which means having OFW parent has slightly negative

effect on Social and Emotional aspects.

This data show that more of the items were rated “Disagree”

with the average weighted mean of 1.76. It means that the Having

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) has slightly negative effect on

Social and Emotional aspects.

CHAPTER IV

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

29
 This chapter presents the summary of findings, the

conclusion based on the findings, and the recommendation of the

researchers.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

After interpreting and analyzing the data, the complete

summary of findings as follows:

1. Profile of the Respondents

1.1 Age. The age ranging from 13-17 years old are the

respondents of this research.

1.2 Gender. Generally, most of the respondents were male,

32 out of 60 with the equivalent of 46.7%.

1.3 OFW Parent. Generally, most of the respondents have a

mother that is working in another country, 29 out of 60

with the equivalent of 48.3%.

2. The typical age of the respondents is 14 years old and the

most frequent gender of the respondents is male, while the most

frequent OFW parents are mothers.

3. Effects of having OFW Parents’

In the findings of the effects of having OFW parents’ in

PHINMA – Araullo University, it shows that among the effects of

having OFW parents, Becoming more independent got the highest

mean with the total of 3.00 weighted mean. It simply means that

30
“Becoming more independent” is the main effect of having OFW

parents’ as perceived by the respondents.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the above findings of the study, the following

conclusions will were derived:

1. Most of the students have age ranging from 13-17 years

old are the respondents of this research. Generally, most

of the respondents were male, 32 out of 60 with the

equivalent of 46.70%. Generally, most of the respondents

have a mother that is working in another country, 29 out of

60 with the equivalent of 48.30%.

1. The main effect of having OFW parents’ is “Become more

independent”.

2. The parents that are working abroad has an obligation to

support their children not just financially, but also in

guiding them to different ways especially in raising them with

good social interactions among people.

3. The researchers conclude that there are advantages and

disadvantages, of having an OFW parent, to the respondents.

RECOMMENDATION

31
 In the light of the findings and conclusions, the following

recommendations were drawn:

1. The parents should have to let his or her child understand

properly the reason why they have to work abroad.

2. To the respondents, they should be mature enough to

understand that sacrifice of their parents abroad is for their

own sake.

3. Students who have OFW parents, can improve their social and

emotional management through the following:

a. Sharing of personal problems to their parents despise of

long distance from each other.

b. Regular communication such as sharing each other’s

experience through the day.

c. Always ask permission from parents in dealing with

important matters such as having a girlfriend/boyfriend

relationship.
d. Most of all, look at the positive side of life, and always

try to understand things even if it is way too different

from the typical or usual state of living.

32