Impediments of Students with Parent Working Abroad

Parents are important in guiding and teaching their children because a child

needs support from loved ones as well as discipline to be motivated. However, due to

better employment opportunities and higher overseas salary, many parents have

decided to work abroad and left their families for years (Parents Working Abroad and

They Effects on Their Children, 2011). This research aims to identify the experiences,

the coping mechanism and insights of the students having parents working abroad.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A family is regarded as the basic unit of the society. Traditionally, it is composed

of a father, mother and children. Parents working abroad altered the definition in some

ways. Working abroad is working away from your homeland. Nowadays it has become a

fashion to move abroad and work in order to earn money. People move from one

country to another in search of the job (Reddy, n.d.). Although in form the family is still

intact but, in substance the physical presence of the parents can affect the growth of a

child.

According to the Eurostat (2015), the European Union enlargements from 2004

onwards triggered new migration flows within Europe. An increasing number of

households send a member abroad rather than move as a family. A significant

proportion of these families come from Poland; it is estimated that in 2009 Poles were
the fourth largest national group residing in other EU countries, accounting for 4.6% of

all foreign born (Eurostat, 2015). In 2011 almost 10% of all Polish households had a

temporary emigrant abroad (The Central Statistical Office of Poland, 2012). Large scale

parental emigration raises questions about the impact it may have on children. There

are concerns that family separation negatively affects the welfare and long-term socio-

economic outcomes of children (Connolly, 2015). The public focuses on the fact of

family separation and is typically of an opinion that parental migration is detrimental for

children. These views are reinforced by reports that children whose parents work

abroad feel lonely and struggle with identity, definition of priorities, and educational

responsibilities, and these struggles lead to worse school performance (Clifton-Sprigg,

2019).

Based on the results of the 2019 Survey on Overseas Filipinos by the Philippine

Statistic Authority (PSA), the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who worked

abroad at any time during the period April to September 2019 was estimated at 2.2

million. With this immense number of Filipino overseas workers also comes with cost of

leaving behind many children in the country. Some common negative effects of holding

OFW parents are dropping out of school, taking for a forbidden medical specialty, and

acquiring into early gestation. These negative effects sometimes occur when kids don’t

acquire excessively much attending from their parent or either guardian who is left

behind. Besides holding negative effects; their OFW parents serve as their inspiration to

make better in their enterprise (OFW Effects to Their Children Essay Sample, 2017).

Furthermore, in UC-METC , there are students who are affected by having

parents working abroad….

of the students who were greatly affected by having parents working abroad . The issue

is widespread, yet, the researchers have not encountered any study that is the same or

related to the experiences of the students with parents working abroad, particularly in

this institution.

Statement of the Problem

The general purpose of this study is to determine the impediments in having

Specifically, this seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the degree of impediments in having a parent working overseas as

2. What is the level of the respondent’s coping mechanisms?

3. What recommendations can be raised based on the findings of the study?

Rationale
Theoretical Background

This study was anchored on the theory of Abraham Maslow (1943); Maslow's

hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of

human needs. Maslow stated that the physiological needs of a person should be met

first before one can proceed to satisfying his/her psychological needs and finally reach

self-actualization. Physiological needs include: air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth,

sex, sleep. Safety needs - once an individual’s physiological needs are satisfied, the

needs for security and safety become salient. For example, emotional security, financial

security (e.g. employment, social welfare), etc. The third level of human needs is social

and involves feelings of belongingness. The need for interpersonal relationships

motivates behavior. Next is the esteem needs which Maslow classified into two

categories: esteem for oneself and the desire for reputation or respect from others. Last

is the self-actualization that refers to the realization of a person's potential, self-

fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. Regarding the structure of

his hierarchy, Maslow (1987) proposed that the order in the hierarchy “is not nearly as

rigid” as he may have implied in his earlier description. Maslow noted that the order of

needs might be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences

(Mcleod, 2020).

Clayton Alderfer further developed Maslow's hierarchy of needs by categorizing

the hierarchy into his ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth). The existence

category is concerned with the need for providing the basic material existence

requirements of humans. The relatedness category is concerned about the desire for
maintaining important interpersonal relationships. The growth category is concerned

about the desire for personal development.

Alderfer categorized Maslow's physiological needs and Maslow's safety needs

into the existence category, Maslow's social needs and Maslow's extrinsic component of

self-esteem needs into the relatedness category, and Maslow's intrinsic component of

self-esteem needs and self-actualization needs into the growth category. Alderfer also

proposed a progression and regression theory to go along with the ERG theory: he said

that when needs in a lower category are satisfied, an individual will invest more effort in

the higher category, and when needs in a higher category are frustrated, an individual

will invest more effort in the lower category. For example, if self-esteem or self-

actualization is not met then an individual will invest more effort in the relatedness

category in the hopes of achieving the higher need (ERG Theory, 1969).

Building the cognitive structure of the student is crucial, for every student needs

love, care, support, and guidance from the parents. However, it has been a big issue for

those students who do not get much attention from their parents who are away from

them in order to provide the basic needs of the family. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

and Alderfer’s ERG Theory, they stated that an individual should first meet the

physiological needs or existence category before proceeding to satisfy the

psychological needs and personal development. The parents who work abroad sacrifice

his or her emotional relationship towards their family to provide the financial needs and

security of the family. Thus, parents must balance their time especially in attending to

the emotional needs of the children and they must spend time with them in their

vacation days.
 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The role of the parent is to provide encouragement, support, and access to

activities that enable the child to master key developmental tasks (Child Development,

n.d.). Parents are important in guiding, teaching, and leading their children because a

child needs support from loved ones as well as discipline to be motivated.

Due to better employment opportunities and higher overseas salary, many

parents have decided to work abroad and left their families for years (Parents Working

Abroad and They Effects on Their Children, 2011).

Pascual (2012) stated that for migrant parents: the decision is the first hard thing

to do. Leaving the family means missing important events and giving up being in the

actual growing up of his or her children. It requires absence to meet the daily emotional

needs of the family. Furthermore, the hardest thing is when this parent encounters

problems—may it be in health, financial, or work—he or she has to face them alone.

The person has to be strong emotionally especially when feeling homesick.

Also, a study was conducted on 2011 by Graham and Jordan about migrant

parents and the psychological well-being of the children left behind. The research

results indicated that children who are left behind suffer from psychological distress

because of separation of parents from them. It also shows that children who are

separated from his or her mother are prone to negative impacts that include physical

health. The role of both parents is very important to child welfare.

nurturance lead to a higher likelihood of children being bullied, and suffering from

abuse. The study has examined the associations between parental migration and

children's psychological health and social interactions, mostly suggesting an increase in

the risks of psychological problems, school bullying and child abuse (Yan et al., 2019).

Moreover, migration involves challenges for families and children such as having

difficulty in communicating due to the parents’ being busy with work and the child with

his/her academics and also due to the time gap. Due to them being away from each

other it left an emotional impact having a varying influence on both according to the

conditions under which migration occurs, they suffer from the effects of longingness to

be with and see each other again (Burgos, 2020).

As cited by Waddoups et al. (2019), parent–child separation is longer than daily

routine or even weekly separations associated with parental work or other factors. The

effects of parent–child separation are consistently negative on children's social-

emotional development, well-being, and mental health. They are more severe when the

separation is prolonged.

Furthermore, the child tends to be angrier, confused, pathetic and more afraid

than other children when it is the mother who has to work abroad in order to provide for

the family and said that the absence of the mother could be the most disruptive in the

life of the children. This is especially felt by the eldest daughter of the family because

she will now be the one who will assume the mother’s role in the family (Rufo, 2012).
 The absence of a mother figure can have a significant impact on the

development of the child. However, the extent of the harm will depend on their

environment and how the situation is managed. An absent mother, therefore, can lead

to deep insecurity in children. This is especially true when other adults in the child’s life

do not take action to address the situation (How an Absent Mother Affects the Children,

2018).

Additionally, Felisilda and Torreon (2020) pointed out that the home influences

the child at the earliest possible time of his life, at a time when his mind is most

receptive. It provides the first impression which may last through the whole life of the

child. The family, being a powerful influence on the child and its importance as a

primary agent of socialization could in no doubt enhance or hinder the academic

achievement of the child depending on the social climate in the family.

Zarra-Nezhad et al. (2015) explained that the effect of mothers’ high affection is

having fewer negative impacts on children. A supportive mother and father shows more

affection will make their children have a good psychological functioning (Stafford et al.,

2016).

Moreover, other aspects of parent thinking include the ability to take the

perspective of the child. Mothers who recognize what is distressing for their children

have children who are better able to cope with their own distress and parents who can

accurately identify their children’s thoughts and feelings during conflicts are better able

to achieve satisfactory outcomes for those conflicts. The ability of parents to think of
children as having mental states as well as being accurate in their assessment of these

mental states, has been linked to children’s secure attachment.

In accord with the realization that children’s behavior affects that of their parents,

researchers have found that, whereas parent attitudes affect child behavior, this relation

shifts as the child grows, with adolescent behavior having an impact on parenting style

and attitudes (Grusec and Danyliuk, 2014).

Asis and Marave (2013) stated that in encouraging their children to do well in

school, it is customary for parents to say that education is the best legacy they can

bequeath to the young ones. With respect to children’s education, it is common to hear

opinions that parents went abroad to further their children’s education, but their efforts

were for naught because their children either stopped schooling or encountered

problems in school. The culprit: parental absence (especially the absence of mothers)

and the presumption that because parents are not around, the children are lacking in

guidance. Mainly, the negative consequence about the presumed ill effects of migration

overshadows reports of children of migrants performing well in school. In general,

reports of children of migrants performing well in school are overshadowed by negative

press about the alleged negative effects of migration.

Furthermore, the major reason for working abroad among OFWs is to send their

children to good, preferably exclusive schools from primary up to college because they

acknowledge that the best thing they can give their children is the right for education.

Therefore, more OFW children are enrolled in private schools and are more likely to

participate in extracurricular activities and gain exposure. These do not only broaden
their learning, but also make them gain overall skills compared to students with strict

budget (Effects of Having Ofw Parents, n.d.).

Nonetheless, if parental migration affects school outcomes, it is also associated

with positive outcomes, or with outcomes which show that children in transnational

households are not doing worse than children living with both parents. Positive school

outcomes are best associated with a migrant-caregivers arrangement where fathers

work abroad and mothers stay home as caregivers – children in these households’ fare

very well when it comes to school pacing and school achievement. The study concludes

that families and households need to provide both economic and psychological support

to enhance the chances that children are at pace with their schooling and are doing well

at school.

Particularly, it is a parent’s responsibility to take care of their children. It is hard

for a child to have no one to guide them especially in their studies because as a child

you still need someone to teach you and it is best to learn from your parents. Some of

the reasons why parents had to leave their children are financial issues, such as

parents needing to travel abroad or leave to find work to support their families’ basic

and educational needs, like Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) (Effects of Parents

Working Abroad to the Scholastic Performance of Their Children, 2016).

According to Mahilum (2013), OFWs are a new breed of economic investors in

the country. Much has been said about the economic contributions of OFWs, but it is

also equally important to look into the effects of OFWs' long absence from home on

their children. It is true that children of OFWs are afforded with good living conditions,
but it is also true that some of their children are not satisfied with what they have. The

fact is that their children require socio-psychological care. Therefore, OFWs should be

adequately aware of such a requirement.

More on the negative side, parental absence due to migration is perceived to

deprive children of important support which can result in poor school outcomes.

Although it is not focused on the families of migrants, a study in the UK looking into

parental engagement and student learning identified social and economic factors that

prevent many parents from fully engaging with their children’s schooling. The study

specified that while it is important to involve parents in school-based activities, the

involvement of parents in learning at home is most likely to result in a positive difference

to the learning outcomes of young students (Harris and Goodall, n.d.). Studies such as

this imply that when parents are absent, there is a void in the care and guidance

provided to school-age children.

Also, separation anxiety may be much more apparent in cases where one of the

parents has to leave home for long periods of time to work abroad, “emotional hardship”

and “difficulties in social adjustment” are some of the effects on children left behind by

Filipino migrant parents or OFW parents, as evidenced by two research studies on

migrant families (Parents Working Abroad and They Effects on Their Children, n.d.).

These children are a special group, as they have a higher risk of psychological

and educational problems, and their growth and development have been of general

concern to society. A lack of parental care and nurturance lead to a higher likelihood of

left-behind children being bullied, and suffering from abuse. The study has examined
the associations between parental migration and children's psychological health and

social interactions, mostly suggesting an increase in the risks of psychological

problems, school bullying, and child abuse (Yan et al., 2018).

Additionally, OFWs face family-related issues. The most concerned ones are

OFWs children's psychological well-being, OFWs' relationships with their partners,

decision making, and communication (Calonzon, 2011). According to Tanalega (2012),

Overseas Filipino Workers tend to overcompensate their children for their absence by

indulging materially, namely, giving the children money more than that to be

appropriate.

On the part of the children, studies have noted how some children of OFWs tend

to focus on the “money equivalent” of their parents’ migration and associate their

parents with monetary benefits to compensate for their absence. Other researchers

have suggested that these children develop a strong consumerist and materialistic

orientation, where the children are satisfied as long as the money from overseas

parents comes regularly (Reyes, n.d.).

Regardless of whether it was the father, mother or both parents abroad, for most

children their remaining parent or other relatives served as the caregivers to make up

for parental absence. Fathers and mothers abroad were able to continue parenting roles

through the use of modern communication facilities and assistance of caregivers.

Moreover, most migrant parents like to believe that the intimacy of relationships

is not essentially fixed by physical proximity but is determined by the willingness of

fulfilled for their children (Marquez, 2017).

On the brighter side, children of OFWs believe their parents are working abroad

to supply their needs and wants, give them better food, better education and a better

home. The eldest child then assumes the role of the parent (Susan, 2013).

These teens accepted the fact that they have to be away from their parents to

support and provide them a better life. They desire to have a complete family just like

the other children. Also, they planned to finish their studies and have a better job to give

back what their parents have done for them. However, children left at home felt the

loneliness and sadness in significant events of their lives (Lobaton and Calantas, 2018).

Furthermore, it is always said that migration is the solution to the rising financial

instability of the families but the persistent concerns are on the issues of students being

left behind by such migration that have attracted growing attention and grow into a

global concern. 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.

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. 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. The need for caregivers to look

into the general satisfaction of children under their care can make them feel better and
make life manageable even in their current situations and conditions (Navarez and Diaz,

2017).

Furthermore, parents and caregivers ensure that children are healthy and safe,

that they are given the skills and tools they need to succeed as adults, and taught basic

cultural values. Parents and caregivers provide affection, acceptance, gratitude,

motivation, and guidance to their children. They provide the most intimate setting for

children's nurturing and security as they establish their personalities and identities, as

well as their physical, cognitive, mental, and social development.

Overall, the physical absence of parental communication, care and disciplining is

sometimes missed and experienced as painful. In these situations, children generate

the importance of a social safety net. This may entail: friends, extended kin, left-behind

parents, and/or others such as counselors. Children appeal to these people when

needed, which makes them feel included, loved and cared for – indicating children’s

coping behavior during their parents’ absence. It thus seems that not just closeness

between children and their migrant parents’ matters. When children feel closeness to a

group of people surrounding them (either physically or virtually), they may be better able

to deal with potential hardships that their parents’ migration may yield (Schram, 2015).
 Other related articles researched by the group:

Studies have found that Filipino children who are left behind experience

psychological and emotional stress (Cruz, 1987; Parrenas, 2001),while others have

indicated that specific emotions, such as feelings of loneliness, anger, fear, being

unloved, or being different from others were most striking among children of migrant

mothers (Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People-

CBCP ⁄ Apostle ship of the Sea-Manila, et al., 2004). Also, while one study found that

children with absent parents are often less socially adjusted than others (Conaco,

1998), earlier research (Cruz, 1987) reported results to the304 International Migration

Review

contrary. Whether children’s academic performance is affected is also unclear,

as evidence on this topic is meager and has also been mixed (Cruz, 1987; Battistella

and Conaco, 1998; Episcopal Commission for thePastoral Care of Migrants and

Itinerant People-CBCP ⁄Apostleship of theSea-Manila, et al. 2004).

Key issue faced by OFW families is parental absence, which then

translates into a lack of emotional support for their children that would eventually

negatively impact the latter’s welfare (Asis & Ruiz-Marave, 2017).

Although it has brought opportunities for a better and financially stable life,

it has resulted in inevitable consequences that could affect children who are left behind.
There are such consequences of being geographically separated from their parents on

their well-being. Having indebtedness toward parents, longing for parental love and

care, and facing the negative consequences of parental absence. These themes

provided further evidence on how the changing dynamics in family relationships, as

brought about by migration and parental absence, could have negative consequences,

particularly on their emotional well-being. This study has shown that the interviewees

experienced varied negative emotions arising from the acknowledgment of the sad

reality that they were left behind, having to endure an increasing relationship gap with

their parents. The themes, however, indicated positive perceptions as regards how the

interviewees valued the sacrifices of their parents. The results were used to develop a

framework for a social work-based program for enrichment and enhancement of the

well-being of children of migrant workers.

In this study, children's well-being pertains to their psychological, health,

and educational outcomes (Mazzucato & Schans, 2011). In particular, emotional well-

being is considered a determinant of how children would decide, behave, and cope

when confronted with complex situations brought about by parental migration and

absence.

Past studies on the consequences of parental absence on children's well-

being drew insights from children and teenagers whose perspectives provide a more in-

depth understanding of their experiences as left-behind individuals. Zhao et al. (2018)

found that children experienced challenges to their psychosocial well-being primarily

caused by long-term separation from their parents. These left-behind children

experienced emotional distress, which was reflected in their experiences of loneliness

choice to improve the family's welfare.

Isaacs (2012) identified the negative effects of being separated from

parents, noting how it could lead to a feeling of being abandoned and how reunion after

several years of separation could result in conflict. Graham and Yeoh (2013) highlighted

the likelihood of experiencing a care deficit among adolescents.

Of particular interest in this equation are the effects of migration status on

educational attainment. There is a slightly positive effect of mother’s migration status on

total years of schooling for the combined sample; i.e., compared with intact families with

both biological parents at home in the Philippines, children whose mothers were

overseas migrants at the time of the survey had completed more total years of

schooling. In addition, there is a decidedly negative effect of out-migration of both

parents on the total years of schooling completed by sons in this sample. While none of

the variables is statistically significant in the equation modeling daughters’ total years of

schooling, we do find in the combined sample that, consistent with national data, girls

are apt to attain higher levels of education than are their brothers, net of other factors. In

addition, having more siblings neither increases nor decreases years of formal

education, net of other factors. Thus, the resource dilution hypothesis isnot supported in

this analysis.

Parental absence is negatively associated with the development of left-

behind children. Left-behind children have a lower cognitive test score and academic

test score, and they are also less likely to attend a college. In particular, a mother’s
absence seems to have persistent negative effects on children’s development.

Mechanism analyses show that parental absence may result in a less healthy mental

status of children and reduce children’s efforts in class. However, we do not find

significant evidence that the exposure to left-behind children in class lowers the in-

school outcomes of children.

The absence of parental care in early childhood negatively affect

children’s development in health status, daily behaviors, and in-school performance. A

longitudinal study in Thailand finds negative impacts of parental absence on the school

enrollment of left-behind children (LBCs), and shows the long-term absence of the

mother appears to reduce the educational chances of LBCs. A study examines the data

from the Mexican household survey, and find higher emotional and behavioral problems

among LBCs than non-LBCs. concurrently, a study in the Philippines shows the

opposite results, and that is, LBCs have better well-being outcomes than non-LBCs. A

systematic literature reviews the effects of international labor migration on mental health

and well-being, and shows that the effects are not always negative but depend on the

characteristics of LBC as well as other family characteristics. Compared to international

migration, a study uses a nationally representative panel dataset in China and shows

that internal parental migration significantly increases the depression scores of children

aged 10–11.

Li (2012) stated that parental migration leads to significant declines in left-

behind children’s educational performance. A study further distinguishes the impacts of

the absence of one versus both parents. Their findings show significant adverse effects

of being left behind by both parents on children’s cognitive development, but much
smaller insignificant impacts of being left behind by one parent. A study estimates the

effect of parental migration on students’ school behavior, and finds that parental

migration negatively affects school behavior of left behind older students significantly,

especially the class integration and personal behavior control. One exception found no

significant impact of parental migration on the math achievement of left behind children.

Furthermore, a study shows that parental absence has a significant negative impact on

students’ long-term educational development.

Parental absence has significant adverse impacts on left behind children

educational outcomes. We find that left behind children have a lower cognitive test

score and academic test score, and they are also less likely to attend a college. Our

results are robust to a series of sensitivity tests. The effects of parental absence vary

across gender, parents’ education level, and Hukou type, with more significant effects

for girls, students with low-educated parents, and urban students. Further mechanism

analyses suggest that parental absence reduces students’ mental health by increasing

the likelihood of being depressed or unhappy. Students with parental absence tend to

have a lower self-assessment on their behavior and campus life, such as more likely to

be late for school, less likely to receive praise from the head teacher, and problems with

class integration and social interaction with others. Our estimations also find no

significant evidence in which the exposure to left behind children in class lowers the in-

school outcomes of children.

The long-term effect of parental absence on students’ educational development

using alternative data from the China Family Panel Studies. The results show that a

mother’s absence is significantly and negatively associated with children development

absence reduces the probability of graduating from senior high school and entering

college by 6.7% and 6.5%, respectively.

The most salient negative impact of the students with parents working abroad are the

feeling of left-behind and can feel helplessness, loneliness, deprivation and isolation

and being confronted with health and academic 

problems. (2013 Liceo de Cagayan University)

       Grusec (2006) believed that there is always a question on what happens with the

children being left by their parents who work abroad. There are lots of possibilities that

can happen. There are children who can finish college and find a job, other children

don’t. Some children grow independently and have different beliefs from their parents.

They are also easily influenced by the people around them.

    Poor psychological well-being was interpreted as the presence of certain symptoms

and behaviors indicative of a mental disorder and thus of psychological distress.

Possible cases of mental disorder were identified using the 25-item SDQ, a screening

tool developed by Robert Goodman in the United Kingdom (R. Goodman, 1997).

According to Cleofe (2016) “In our academic years, at some point of our life, we

all have experience pressure from our environment or *peers. We are forced to follow a

certain group just to be accepted. Furthermore, if you are not aware that negative *peer-

pressure (two types of peer-pressure: the negative and positive) is already changing

your values and behaviors of alcoholism, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy for girls,

bullying and school failures.” In this case, even if the children tend to perform well
there’s a possibility at a process of trying times, children could not be able to manage

the sense of “abandonment” that may lead to the “easily-influenced” of peers resulting in

the conclusion given by Cleofe (2016).

Extant research findings, particularly studies that provide a comparison with non-

migrant families, tend to be less pessimistic about the impact of parental migration on

children’s education. Several studies in the Philippines have shown that supporting the

education of children is one of the major uses of remittances (e.g., ECMI/AOS-Manila et

al., 2004; Yang, 2006; Aguilar et al., 2009).

Furthermore, similar to an earlier study (Battistella and Conaco, 1998), the 2003

study indicated that the children of OFWs performed just as well, if not better, than the

children of non-migrants, with the exception of the children of mother-migrants.

According to Ntitika J.L. (2014) in his study, “The economic status of parents can

also be concluded as to affect the academic performance of some students. This is

because some of the students who come from families, which are not economically

stable, tend to be chased out of school for fees whereas others are not able to purchase

some of the reading materials. This affects their performance largely. Moreover, poor

economic backgrounds limit the parents from sending their children to schools that have

adequate facilities or of high standards simply because they are not able to meet the

educational cost required.”

According to the Literature Review of Reyes (2008) “Unlike the perceived

*notions, children of migrants performed well especially during grade school compared
to non  migrant children (based on the study of Scalabrini). This finding also came out in

the 1996 study (Battistella and Conaco) and seems to suggest the importance of

mother’s presence in the academic performance of the children.

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. In fact, 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. According To Philippine Institute for

Development Studies (2008), one of the main reasons why many decided to work

abroad is the children’s need for better education. In fact, education is among the top 3

recurring expenses of OFWs’ remittances thus, indicating investments in human capital

(Custodio & Ang, 2011).

The separation during migration changes the nature of the parent-child

relationship. This Condition of children left behind can become a source of stress in

their daily life. However, people see stressful events as either challenging or threatening

(Lazarus, 2000). To deal with these stressful events, there are many coping skills that

people can use, and some may prove more effective than others. Therefore, how an

individual deals with stress and his/her ways of responding to a situation that he/she

encounters will depend on his/her coping skills.

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 decreases while learning
time at school increases resulting to better academic performance (Acosta, 2006;

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

This scenario manifests an affirmative influence for those students who are

academically high performing 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,2002 as cited in Smith,

2004). Thus, the effectiveness of coping efforts depends on the type of stress,type of

individual, and the circumstances surrounding it (Lee et al., 2009). 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.

Today’s children need tangible support as they face a range of challenges that

extend beyond the cognitive domain (Roberts and Crawford, 2008). Fassler (2005)

explains that children who are away from their parents have chances of experiencing

descending classroom performance.

Students may have difficulty studying due to worry regarding their concerns, as

well as the status of parental health and well-being. However, these students have to

face the reality of their parents leaving them for a noble reason. Due to lesser chances

of getting employed in most developing countries coupled with higher demands for low-

wage workers in developed countries, many parents sought employment abroad to

support themselves and their families back home. As reported by the United
NationsHuman Rights (UNHR, 2013), there are currently more than 215 million migrants

around the world,many of which are Filipinos. With this number of migrants, one can

already assume the difficulties experienced by children left behind.While some studies

focused on the effects of parental migration to the life of young children at school age in

many countries, this present study specifically looked into the impact of parental

migration to the academic, emotional, social and spiritual life of the left-behind

adolescents in Filipino context. This study investigated the effects of having parents

who are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) from four to seventeen years to the life of

their left-behind children aging fifteen to eighteen years old. Adolescence is a very

crucial stage in one’s life because this is when the person is neither a child nor an adult.

The absence of parents or carers in this particular period of one’s development may be

very stressful which might result in the use of coping and defense mechanisms. (Scielo

Org Za.,2017). In the present article, the author presents the impact of parental

migration in the four aspects (academic, emotional, social and spiritual) of life of the

three different groups of left-behind adolescent children in the Filipino context. Using the

researcher's questionnaire, mental ability and personality tests, interview, and the

respondents’ scholastic records, the following findings are discussed based on the

objectives of this research. 

Parents leaving their homes to work abroad becomes a common universal

experience of many of the families nowadays primarily due to material poverty. While

the Family Code of the  Philippines in Executive Order No. 209 series of 1987

emphasizes authority and responsibility of

consciousness and efficiency and for their holistic development and well-being

(Officialgazettegovph.,2017), migration of parents seems to be inevitable in the situation

of some Filipino families nowadays. 

This study employed descriptive-correlational research design and was

conducted inDavao del Sur during the school year 2014–2015. The target respondents

were chosen usingPurposive Sampling Technique. The researchers personally went to

the different schools to ask permission from the school heads. Selected respondents

were asked to fill out the authorization form stating that their grades and personal views

would be used for the study. A total of 142 high performing students from various

Catholic high schools in Davao del Sur were the subject of the study. They were sons

and daughters of OFW parents. The study used an adopted instrument“Cope Inventory''

designed by Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub (1989) which measures the coping

mechanisms in eight subscales, namely: acceptance, active coping, humor,

planning,positive reframing, religion, use of emotional support and use of instrumental

support. Thestudents’ final general average grade for the school year 2013–2014 and

their first grading GPAfor the school year 2014–2015 were used to determine their

academic performance. Likewise,ten students coming from different schools who got

the highest general average grade during the final grading period for the SY 2013–2014

were interviewed and findings were used to deepen the analysis of the quantitative

results of the study. In analyzing the data, DescriptiveStatistics using mean score was

used to establish the level of coping mechanisms and level of students' academic
performance. In addition, Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was applied to determine

which of the coping mechanisms can significantly predict academic performance of

Philippine students left behind by OFW parents.

The study was conducted to determine the level of academic performance and

coping mechanisms of students in the private Catholic schools in Davao del Sur school

year 2014–2015. It also identified which of the coping mechanisms could significantly

predict or influence academic performance of Philippine students’ left behind by OFW

parents None of the coping mechanisms can predict academic performance of the

Philippinestudents’ left behind by OFW parents.

Using Multiple Regression Analysis, it was determined that out of the eight

coping mechanisms tested only three were found to be significant, namely: active

coping, planning and using instrumental support. Based on the findings, it is

recommended that schools must define policies that would support the creation of a

separate program for students with OFW parents with an emphasis on the significant

predictors.

Navarez, J. S., & Diaz, K. . A. R. (2017). Coping Mechanisms of Philippine Students

Left Behind by OFW Parents. SLOGAN, 3(1), 16. Retrieved from

Meanwhile, because the problems are psychological in nature, their ways of

coping are also psychological. Students with parents working overseas does

relativizing, maintaining "shadow household," sharing their experiences with other OFW

children, doing shopping, and Bible sharing