COPING MECHANISM ON PARENTAL ABSENCE AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

STUDENTS WITH OFW PARENTS OF SAMAR COLLEGE, INC.

A Research Paper
Presented to the
Faculty of the Senior High School
Samar Colleges, Inc.
Catbalogan City

_____________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements in Practical Research 2
_____________________

ATHEA GRACE G. BERNABE

MARY CLAIRE C. CLAROS
MICHAEL EGIE M. GONZALES
JOHN LEO N. LAMOSTE
JOHN ROBERT M. MONCADILLA
HAZEL ANN G. PABUNAN
LEXTER D. PAPAURAN
ANTONETH T. SEVILLANO
YUAN ALEXTER G. SOLAYAO
July 2023
CHAPTER I
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Introduction

Having an OFW parent is not easy, the children do not know how

to handle the situation, parents left their side not because they

wanted to leave, but because it is their obligation to fulfill

the needs of the children. Departing may have two conflicting

effects on the emotional and mental health, a reduction in the

amount of time parents devoted to care for their children's

health, which may have a negative effect, and an increase in

household income from remittances, which may have a positive

effect (Miller 2019). Lee (2017 defined that the OFW stands for

overseas Filipino workers who works abroad from Philippines to a

certain another country.as a matter of fact, the data from the

POEA (2012) indicate that most of the migrant workers working in

over 190 countries around the world are Filipinos and as a

consequence, a more pressing concern focuses on children being

left-behind. Tan (2008) discovered that around nine million

Filipino children under the age of 18 were left behind by one or

both parents due to employment abroad. The fact that children

tend to change their perspectives and beliefs against their

parents due to their absences, lack of care, empathy, and

supervision that they yearn for from their parents, this feeling

of abandonment cannot be made up for money. When their parents

leave their countries of origin to work abroad due to

incapability of handling obligations and in order for them to

sustain their essential needs for daily life results in a

conflict such as misunderstanding. They also tend to change their

attitude and they are more likely to experience depression,

anxiety, and other mental health problems that were caused by

emotional trauma for they have a higher risk of developing

emotional and mental health issues including despair and

suffering as they have low self-esteem, they feel weak, pessimist

and lonely, that they isolate themselves while dealing with

academic issues. On the other hand, other children understand why

their parents emigrate because they are aware that it is their

parent's only way to be able to provide their needs such as food

and funds for fees (Godin 2021).

Based on Berlin (2019), positive impacts to the children

that have OFW parents can make a good living, so they can afford

the majority of the items that their children want. In relation

to the highlighted challenging experiences, it will also try to

learn the student's coping mechanisms. Their distinct individual

experiences are a result of both their coping strategies and

various family backgrounds, in addition to their demographic

makeup and family backgrounds. The researchers have the chance to

stress the student and OFW parent's coping mechanisms and methods

by identifying the painful experiences that the student had

throughout difficult times.

Additionally, despite the difficulty children face in the

absence of their parents, there are some of them who manage to

excel in academics. In looking at the impact of migration,

findings of researches done in the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico,

and other countries show that when parents are away housework

burdens of children decrease while learning time at school

increases resulting to better academic performance (Acosta, 2006;

Hanson & Woodruff, 2003; Kandel & Kao, 2001; Assis, 2006). This

scenario manifests an affirmative influence for those students

who are academically high performing in school even if their

parents are away. The positive influence is due to successful

coping skills that create an idea as to how one can make changes

in his/her life to make stress more manageable (Jarrey,2020 as

cited in Smith, 2019). Thus, the effectiveness of coping efforts

depends on the type of stress, type of individual, and the

circumstances surrounding it (Lee et al., 2018).

The purpose of conducting this study is to explore or

investigate the coping mechanism of senior high school students,

in specific in Samar College Inc. This also aims to identify the

coping mechanism of students studying in Samar College in

Catbalogan City. Furthermore, this will identify how the students

cope and adjust when they are left with their parents to work

abroad. Moreover, this qualitative study offers a fantastic

opportunity to recognize and comprehend the psychological and

emotional issues that students with OFW parents face, as well as

how they cope with these issues.

The investigation to the senior high school students coping

mechanism and solutions and conclusions about their feelings left

out from their group of friends, acceptance, having a matured

mindset to make progress and improve their living even without

their parent's presence and lastly, those children who chose

violence and rebellion against their Parents. It will

additionally investigate the influence of coping mechanisms

towards the academic performance of senior high school students

of Samar college with OFW parents and how students overcome

physical and emotional support without physical attachment with

their parents. This will focus on coping strategies and effects

among students at Samar College Inc. Senior High School whose

parents are overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's).

Statement of the Problem

The study is focused on the effects of having Overseas

Filipino Workers (OFW) Parents on senior high school students in

Samar college. Specifically, it sought to answer the following

questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Students Respondents

1.1.1 Age

1.1.2 Sex

1.1.3 Monthly Income

1.2 Parents Respondents

1.1.1 Age

1.1.2 Sex

1.1.3 Employment Status

1.1.4 Employment Type

1.1.6 Occupational

2. What are the negative effects of having an OFW Parents on

students?

3. What is the coping mechanism of student’s respondents the

absence of their parents?

Hypothesis

Usually, their own people would rise up in revolt. A lot of

meaningless conferences on using drugs, binge drinking, and

taking advantage of various social classes and their distinct

advantages were sparked by concerns about small children,

potential discomfort, loneliness, and abandonment. These facts

cannot be avoided. Because the children's reactions to their

parents' abroad employment are erratic and do not change

frequently, similar to how they view the world.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this research shall benefit the coping

mechanism on parental absence among senior high school students

with OFW Parents. The study shall benefit the following:

STUDENTS

The students as the direct beneficiaries, this study will

solve and control the negativity of senior high school students

who have been experienced the absence of their OFW Parents.

TEACHERS

This study would help the teachers on how to give comfort and

encourage the senior high school students who have suffered their

lack of affection due to their OFW Parents absence.

FUTURE RESEARCHERS

The findings of this study will be used for further studies

regarding the students’ well being and their behavior when it

comes to the lack of attention from familial matters and etc.

PARENTS

The findings of this study can give parents the sense of

awareness regarding their children’s lack of attention and

affection from them due to working abroad.

Scope and delimitation

The general intent of this study is to know the students of their

health and wellness promotion illness prevention and the study

focus to determine the coping mechanism of both students and OFW.

Theoretical Framework

This study had focused on providing the reader with the

background of the study, the articulation of the research

problems, the purpose and objectives of the study as well as the

hypothesized outcomes of the study.

Various students these days are experiencing school

existence without the presence of their parents. While numerous

youngsters have shown a decrease in academic studies while

guardians are away, many were likewise found to have performed

magnificently through various frameworks. It is important to

apply active coping, planning, and using instrumental assistance

especially in these circumstances where you need to be away from

them so that you will be able to provide for their necessities.

Leaving your child can cause a more significant impact of injury

because of nonappearance of bearing, and parental presence

especially that young people are most likely affected for they

are still in need of guidance and are dependent to their parents.

Considering the disclosures, it is recommended that schools ought

to describe procedures that would maintain the development of an

alternate program for students with OFW parents with a complement

on the basic markers.

STUDENTS WITH OFW PARENTS
CAN COPED UP ABOUT THEIR EMOTIONAL
NEEDS REGARDING PARENTAL ABSENCE

FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

. Age and Sex

F . Parents Educational F
Assessment E
E Coping mechanism and level
. Monthly Family Income of perception of the E
E
students, the respondents
. Background Status
D on the effect and result D
of their situation with
. Parents Occupational
B OFW parents B

A A

C C

K K

SENIOR HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS IN

SAMAR COLLEGE
Figure 1. The Conceptual Framework of the Study

The study focused on the perception of the students in

conceptual framework, The bottom of conceptual framework shows us the

respondents or students of the study, it is the research process of

the problem and result of our study, this study of the students with

OFW parents as related to their profile and background of them.

The result hope to the students is to give them the positive

things. Students who have parents who aren’t present at school tend to

have lower self-perception of their behavior and campus life. It has

been demonstrated that greater parental involvement improves school,

parent and teacher satisfaction and students’ achievement.

CHAPTER II:
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In today's environment, a growing number of pupils going through

school life without their parents' presence is known to have a

big impact on their social well-being. Some parents choose to

leave their cozy homes in search of greener pastures. Movement is

frequently cited as the answer to families' growing financial

insecurities, but the challenges surrounding students left behind

by such migration continue to draw attention and have grown into

a global concern. Despite the fact that many kids perform worse

in school when parents aren't there, many kids were also

discovered to have performed exceptionally through a variety of

techniques.The study brings together the explored dimensions of

the coping strategies of student's left behind by parents who are

overseas workers, and, second, the more specialized  literature

in child emotional health that has focused on the implications of

parent–child separation. Also, it aimed to assess the influences

concerning their coping ways towards troublesome opportunities.

The results showed that kids of OFW use the cope strategy by

searching for special forms of support, like totally different

hobbies and interests. In addition, psychological feature

appraisals also are the foremost common coping strategy applied

by the scholars. Likewise, victimization alcohols and sedatives

square measure the smallest amount used strategy. Thus, students

resort to healthy coping ways and use these to influence and

reduce the difficulties they encounter to cope up with each

downside. As Movement is frequently cited as the answer to

families' growing financial insecurities, a number of students

today attend school without their parents present is growing and

the challenges surrounding students left behind by continues to

draw attention and have grown a concern in the Philippines that

many parents choose to work overseas to support themselves and

their families back home because the prospects of finding

employment were so poor in the Philippine and there is a huge

demand for low-wage labor in the Philippines.

Some of the positive impacts are financial stability. The

children are rich enough to buy most of the things they want

because their OFW parents earn a lot of money. In addition, the

children can enroll in quality schools. Children with a migrant

parent have better outcomes in education (in terms of grade

level, grades, and study habits). Children of migrant parents had

higher current grade levels, lower probability of poor grades,

higher probability of studying regularly, less probability of

being perceived as sickly and temperamental, and less likelihood

of having worked in the past week and past year compared to

children of non-migrant parents. The results are robust across

the different econometric strategies used and even after

addressing identification issues such as endogeneity of parental

migration.

In analyzing the findings of the study, some significant

conclusions were derived.  First, the level of academic

performance of students’ with OFW parents was at the proficient

level. This result was also expected because the respondents of

the study were the academically high performing students in

school. It is concluded that despite the situation where mother,

father, or both parents are not around during challenging times,

students’ left behind are capable of achieving high academic

performance given the right coping mechanisms. With parents’

absence, technological mechanisms like cellular phones and

computers have become the default substitute for personal

parenting especially in the motivation of parents in the academic

performance of their children. 

As for Stroebe & Abakoumkin (2013), they stated that "Despite the

fact that many children have experienced a decline in classroom

performance while parents are away, many were also found to have

performed excellently through various mechanisms." This reality

is what encourages many, Medical workers, Educators in academics,

and scholars to give due attention on this matter and examine the

conditions that help these children who were left behind by their

Parents. As cooperation, these children also aim for high grades

because they want their parents to be happy and it is the only

reward they can give to their parents who sacrifice a lot. 

Jarrey & Smith (2004) also stated that "Despite the difficulty

children face in the absence of their parents, there are some of

them who manage to excel in academics". This scenario manifests

an affirmative influence for those students who are academically

high performing in school even if their parents are away. "The

positive influence is due to successful coping skills that create

an idea as to how one can make changes in his/her life to make

stress more manageable". Moreover, the person’s ability to manage

and face stressful events in his/her life and make that

individual on top of or in control of things will eventually

result in achieving lives of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Cellona, (2022) strongly stated that OFW's shouldn't be blessed

if their children's square measure is lost, as they left them to

present them a much better life. youngsters with OFW parent brick

mechanism of square measure even nearer to their children

notwithstanding they're separated physically and that they

continuously realize that they can cope up with fun activities at

home and at school, it could still affect them negatively.

Navares, J.S. & Diaz, K. A. R. (2017) believes that it is

possible to nurture the children who were left behind by their

OFW parents using adaptable coping strategies by experts as their

investigation resulted in a great performance because the

children who participated at Slongan Center had a great outcome

and won the first place on April 7, 2017.

Ibon et al (2019) also claimed that Children of OFWs  uses the

coping strategy by searching for special forms of support, like

totally different hobbies and interests. Thus, students resort to

healthy coping ways and use these to influence and reduce the

difficulties they encounter to cope up with each downside.

On the other hand, Anodia, and Gade (2016) opposed Ibon et al

(2019), pointing out that Students may have difficulty studying

due to worry regarding their concern and finding new hobbies, and

adds up to the status of parental health and well-being of the

students as it indicates that more than half of the respondents

who answered the survey which was held on September 18, 2016 at

Medicine University of Cebu, lacks support and coping strategies.

However, Cellona, (2022) stated that OFW's shouldn't be blessed

if their children's square measure is lost, as they left them to

present them a much better life. youngsters with OFW parent brick

mechanism of square measure even nearer to their children

notwithstanding they're separated physically and that they

continuously realize time to speak to their youngsters on-line as

typically as attainable, it could still affect them negatively.

Botezat, A. (2022) did research and has Unfortunately learned

more about how living in a migrant family affects children’s

health outcomes negatively. In his study, he said that "The main

problem is a lack of relevant data. The effects on children’s

mental health, in particular, have received little attention and

many are still not able to cope up with parental absence and

coping strategies are still not applied to them".

Recent research shows that children who remain behind when their

parents leave their countries of origin are more likely to

experience depression, anxiety, and other emotional and mental

health problems. Children are particularly affected when their

mothers leave. Some studies also indicate that children from

transnational families are more likely than their peers to

exhibit behavioral problems.

More and more, we are recognizing that mental health is an

essential component of overall health, as well as of a fulfilling

social life. However, these left-behind children experienced

emotional distress, which was reflected in their experiences of

loneliness and sadness. parental migration was deemed as the best

choice to improve the family's welfare. The need to sacrifice for

the 'greater food of the family' influence parents' decision for

migration and served as children's starting point for

understanding and accepting such a decision. the negative effects

of being separated from parents, noting how it could lead to a

feeling of being abandoned and how being reunited after several

years of separation could result in conflict.

Folkman (2000), as well, has thought that the condition of

"Children left behind can become a source of stress in their

daily life and people see stressful events as either challenging

or threatening."

Battistella and Conaco’s research (2003) shows that Children  of

OFW Parents are most likely to experience higher anxiety and

loneliness than other typical children with parents guiding them.

On a tragic note, the kids of OFW Parents reported being lonely,

angry, unloved, unfeeling, afraid, completely different from the

opposite youngsters, and disturbed compared to all or any teams

of youngsters , including non OFW youngsters.

The study focused on how left-behind children from the

Philippines to other countries understand, engage and react to

changes in their everyday lives in their parents’ absence. Very

few parents sought their young children’s opinions. A parent

described her reasoning: "The saddest part in their situation was

that it was very painful for children to be left alone while we

work abroad to afford their necessities. Although most children

largely accepted the care arrangements planned for them, some –

especially those left with non-parental carers – had a greater

degree of freedom and took a more proactive approach in deciding

who their carers should be from the outset. Situated in a

position relative to other people of different ages and social

status, Children are constantly experimenting, adjusting,

resisting and reworking plans independently, as they try coping

themselves up to feel at ease.

To deal with these stressful events, there are many coping skills

that people can use, and some may prove more effective than

others. First (1) is Problem-focused, which addresses the problem

causing the distress: Examples of this style include active

coping, planning, restraint coping, and suppression of competing

activities. The next one (2) is Emotion-focused, which aims to

reduce the negative emotions associated with the problem:

Examples of this style include positive reframing, acceptance,

turning to religion, and humor. Lastly (3) is Meaning-focused, in

which an individual uses cognitive strategies to derive and

manage the meaning of the situation Social coping (support-

seeking) in which an individual reduces stress by seeking

emotional or instrumental support from their community. It could

be concluded from the findings that out of the four strategies

used, focusing on Problem, Emotions, and Behaviour are

predominant strategies for coping styles respectively. Again, of

the 3 main coping styles, what can be drawn from these findings

are that the experts should take steps to strengthen the

Counseling Centre with the necessary materials and coping

mechanisms to enable them effectively to handle students’

problems. 

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Resign Design
COPING MECHANISM ON PARENTAL ABSENCE AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS WITH OFW PARENTS OF SAMAR COLLEGE, INC.

We would like to request you to be one of our respondents in our

study. We hope that you will take time answering the questions
honestly

Name:_______________________ Sex: ____________________________

Age: _______________________
Strongly Agree Disagree Strong

agree disagr

I do not attend parties to cope up

I struggle socializing with my peers

I can not help myself feeling stress

during class

I joined fratternity groups to cope

up

I struggle being left behind by my

parent(s)
I am mentally unstable

I struggle on coping up

I do not communicate well with my

parents

I do not have someone to talk about

my problems

I do not have someone that I can rely

on

I do not have someone that can

understand my stress

I do not have a place that makes me

feel safe
I am rebelious due to parental

absence

I am stressed out at home