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Chapter 1
The Problem and It’s Background
I. Background of the Study
Family, a group of persons unites by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption,
constituting a single household and interacting with each other in their respective
social positions, usually those of spouses, parents, children, and siblings. The
family group should be distinguished from a household, which may include borders
and roomers sharing a common residence. Families are where people experience
their biggest triumphs and their deepest vulnerabilities, and they are where they
have the greatest potential to do good. People believe the family is divine in nature
and that God designates it as the fundamental building block of society, both on
earth and through eternity. It is a home that people learn to walk and talk. . At its
best, the family performs various functions for its members. Perhaps most
important of all, it provides for emotional and psychological security, particularly
through warmth, love, and companionship that living together generates between
spouses and in turn between them and their children. People share expressions of
love in the family. It is through family life they learn (purposely or inadvertently)
the habits, emotional responses, obligations, and values that will begin to shape
their adult selves. It is where people learn the social graces of loyalty cooperation,
and trust. It is where the people learn to love themselves and each other, to bear one
another’s burdens, to find meaning in their life and to give purpose to other’s lives,
and to feel the value of being part of something greater than ourselves. The father
is known for having the responsibility of being the provider of the family. For the
father to fulfill this responsibility and provide the needs and wants of his family, it
is often go to work and typically went home after work hours. The mother who is
not working will left at home to take charge for house responsibility and duties such
as cleaning the house. The most important chores of a mother is to take care and to
teach their child/children proper values.

But nowadays, in the Philippines, the demand of the jobs did not meet the
numbers of employee that needed to be hired. The tendency is that the family
provider and the family taker tends and strives harder to find more jobs and take
away from the grasp of poverty. Some parents risk their career and shift with higher
salary. Some parents learned to accept and grab the opportunities to work abroad
with the exchange of being separated with their families. This situation worsen
when the mother is one who decided to go. This is when one of the parents or the
mother becomes an Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs.

An Overseas Filipino Worker or OFW is a Filipino living and working

outside of the Philippines who are in another country for a limited or definite period
i.e. on a work contract. The millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) count
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as “national heroes” in the Philippines. They do not only provide a living for their
families back home, but also make a considerable contribution to the country’s
gross domestic product and its economic growth. These remittances from all over
the world account for about 10 percent of the Philippine GDP. Most OFWs work
as domestic helpers, construction and factory workers, seamen, nurses, and
salespersons, but you also find engineers, doctors, and other highly-qualified
employees among them. Roughly 2/3 of OFWs work in the Middle East. Hong
Kong and Singapore are also top destinations. Overseas Filipino Workers work
abroad to escape crushing poverty and unemployment and a lack of opportunities
at home. They send back home a huge chunk of their salary to support their family
and relatives, and to invest in houses or small businesses. One of every three
Filipino homes has a family member working overseas. If is not unusual for a child
to live with an aunt in the Philippines because his mother works nurse in Los
Angeles and his father works as a construction worker in the Middle East. Filipinos
have a long tradition of working overseas

But among all the positive things that OFWs given, not only to their
families, but also to our economic growth, the researchers found a lamentable
problem. The feeling of concern, fret, anxiety and sadness to the families, especially
the child one, they left alone. They actually doing a good job providing the need
and wants of their families but the lack of their presence will surely and somehow
affects the personality, behavior and mindset of the family member, e.g. the
child/children who is/are still studying and need the guidance of their own parents.
The researchers aim to fully understand the feeling of the family and child who are
left by their OFWs mothers and also, to aid the future OFW mothers to let them
know the feelings and the perspective of their child/children when they decided to
be an OFW. They also want to somehow learn how to cope up with this kind of
situation and how these kind of people still do what they need and want to do. To
know if there is/ are really effect to the child/children the absence of their mothers
while they is/are growing up?

II. Theoretical Framework

John Bowlby (1907-1990) was a psychoanalyst and believed the mental
health and behavioral problems could be attributed to early childhood. Bowlby’s
evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world
biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will
help them to survive.
Bowlby believes that attachment behaviors are instinctive and will be
activated by any conditions that seem to threaten the achievement of proximity,
such as separation, insecurity, and fear. Bowlby (1969, 1988) also postulated that
the fear of strangers represents an important survival mechanism, built in by nature.
Babies are born with the tendency to display certain innate behaviors, called social
releasers, which help ensure proximity and the contact with the mother or
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attachment figure, e.g. crying, smiling, crawling, etc. – these are the species-
specific behaviors.
During the evolution of the human species, it would have been the babies
who stayed close to their mothers that would have survived to have children of their
own. Bowlby hypothesized that both infants and mothers have evolved a biological
need to stay in contact with each other.
Main points of Bowlby’s Theory
1. A child has an innate (i.e., inborn) need to attach to one main
attachment figure (i.e., monotropy).
2. A child should receive the continuous care of this single
most important attachment figure for approximately the first
two years of life.
3. The long-term consequences of material deprivation might
include the following:
i. Delinquency,
ii. Reduced intelligence,
iii. Increased aggression,
iv. Depression,
v. Affectionless psychopathy
Affectionless psychopathy is an inability to show affection or concern for
others. Such individuals act on impulse with little regard for the consequences of
their actions. For example, showing no guilt for antisocial behavior.
4. Robertson and Bowlby (1952) believe that short-term
separation from an attachment figure leads to distress (i.e.,
the PDD model).
They found three progressive stages of distress:
 Protest: The child cries, screams, and protests angrily when the parent leaves. They
will try to cling on to the parent to stop them leaving.
 Despair: The child’s protesting begins to stop, and they appear to be calmer
although still upset. The child refuses other’s attempt for comfort and often seems
withdrawn and uninterested in anything.
 Detachment: If separation continues the child will start to engage with other people
again. They will reject the caregiver on their return and show strong signs of anger.
5. The child’s attachment relationship with their primary
caregiver leads to the development of an internal working
model (Bowlby, 1969).
This internal working model is a cognitive framework comprising mental
representations for understanding the world, self, and others. A person’s interaction
with others is guided by memories and expectations from their internal model
which influence and help evaluate their contact with others (Bretherton, &
Munholland, 1999).
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III. Conceptual Paradigm

INPUT
Profile of the
respondents in terms
of: gender, age, birth
order and years away
from mother
Effects of the absence
of the mother in:
behavior, mindset,
studies, learning,
social interaction, etc.
Other ways to cope
up: if there are any
PROCESS/ OUTPUT
PROCESS
To check if there is
any relation between
Survey Quistionnai re the given factors that
affects the student's
stress and behavior
To know and identify
the feelings and
opinions of students
about the absence of
their mothers to their
life
To let future OFWs
know the true effect/s
of their absence in
their children's life

The figure show the content of the study; it contains the goal and aim of the study
and the procedure on how to get or interpret the data. The researchers will make survey
questionnaire to get the opinions and perspective of the respondents about how they feel
and how the absence of their mothers does affects them. The dependent variable in this
study is the grade 9 students. They are dependent by the action/s of the independent variable
which is the Overseas Filipino Workers. Their feelings and actions in life are depends on
what did the independent variable. While the independent variable, the OFWs can stand up
on their own not being that affected by the actions of the dependent variable. After
collecting the data the researchers will interpret and analyzed the data.

IV. Statement of the Problem

This study is specifically aims to understand, to learn and to know the feelings of
the grade 9 students who grow up without the presence of their mother in their
lives. The researcher’s objective is to understand what they are feeling, and how
this/these feeling/s affect them as an individual, whether it is good or not. To
understand what’s behind their bad and naughty behavior. The study will be based
on the following questions:
General:
1. How does the absence of the mother while growing up affects the
grade 9 students’:
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i. Behavior
ii. Learning
iii. Social interactions
iv. Mindset
v. Studies
vi. Feelings?
2. How important the mother’s presence to the child while growing up?
3. Does having a sibling affects the child in:
i. Behavior
ii. Mindset
iii. Feelings
iv. Responsibilities?
4. What is the impact of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFWs) mother’s
absence to the grade 9 students along the following aspects:
i. Psycho-emotional
ii. Socio-spiritual
iii. Adaptive behavior?
5. What is the relationship between the impact of Overseas Filipino
Worker (OFW) mother’s absence in the grade 9 students and the
following variables:
i. Age
ii. Gender
iii. Birth order
iv. Years away from mother?
Specific:
1. How does the child cope up with the absence of his/her mother?
2. What are the other things or substitute will be effective for a child to
fully understand why their mother working abroad?
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V. Hypothesis of the Study

Alternative/ Affirmative:

 The impact of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) mother’s absence

to the grade 9 students along emotional, mental and physical aspects
is expected to be high.

 There is a significant relationship between the grade 9 students’ age,

gender, birth order and years away from mother and the degree of
impact they are experiencing.

 The degree of effect of the mother’s absence to the grade 9 students

will be moderately extensive.
Null:

 There is a slight impact in the grade 9 students the Overseas Filipino

Worker (OFW) mother’s absence in the aspects of emotional,
mental, and physical.

 There is no significant relationship between the grades 9 students’

age, gender, birth order, and years away from mother and the degree
of an impact the grade 9 students experiencing.

 There is nearly no effect to the grade 9 students the absence of their

mothers.

VI. Scope and Limitations

This is study aims to fully understand the feeling of the grade 9 students
who grow up without the presence of their Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW)
mothers. Along with this, the study will only focused in the grade 9 students of Dr.
Yanga’s Colleges Inc. who experience/experienced this kind of situation. The main
objective of this study is to aid the future OFW mothers about how this kind of job
will affect their child/children. Furthermore, this study is limited to thirty five (15)
Grade 9 students who are currently enrolled for the S.Y. 2018-2019 of Dr. Yanga’s
Colleges Inc. as the respondents. The survey questionnaires will be given to the
respondents and will be administered personally by the researchers for accurate
answers.

VII. Review of Related Literature

Two Faces of a Mother’s Love
by Chin Chin
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Two faces of mother’s love. One endured the pain of being far away from the family
so she can give a better life to her family. The other chose not to be separated from
the family even if it means sacrificing her good career. Which of the two mirrors
your mother’s love had?
“In every choice, there is an exchange
Weigh the heart and mind, endure the pain.
And don’t forget to trust the Lord ever
Whatever happens He will be always there.”
In the start of the story, there is a young girl who remember the day she was crying
and begging for her mother to stay. She was an 11 year old girl who is in 5 th grade
when her mother decided to go to Saudi Arabia. At first, she did not completely
understand why her mother needs to go because what she only knows is they needed
money for their family expenses.
She tried her very best to study well because she wanted to help her family. And
almost every year she was the top 1 of her class and the tuition in the Chinese school
she entered to was free. Also, she is doing all of these because even though her
mother was far away, she want her to be really happy. But deep inside of her, is her
mother to go home with her together with her father. Communication back then
was not as effective as the communication we know and using nowadays, and so
because of this not-so-sure communication back then, little by little, her heart
became felt distant to her mother. It must have also been because she was already
growing up as a young teen then.
When her mother went home after many years being away from them, she does not
know how and what to feel. She feels happy because finally her mother was back
home and they are together, but she is also sad because of the length of time they
just waist not together. And in this waist years, she used to be with her father, and
she wonders if she will ever be close to her mother again. There is an empty space
that is between her and her mother. Her mother knows about how she felt and she
knew that her mother is hurt. It made her sad thinking that this just a painful cost in
exchange for her sacrifice and being far away from family just to fulfill their
physical necessities.
OFWs and the Children Left Behind
by Gemma Minda Iso (May 15, 2017)
As indicated in the CRC, 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, 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 knew about this and dreamed of co-habiting in such a situation. But
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what if the mother decided to go overseas and work there? Is it going to be the
same?

To many, a normal family unit is made up of a father and a mother and their
children. However, life throws many curve balls and parents are often forced to re-
invent the conception of a normal family so as to ensure or, at the very least, hope
for the “full and harmonious development” of their children.

Overseas Filipino Workers help in decreasing Philippine unemployment as well as

feeding, sheltering and clothing entire households. To make it short, because of the
unbearable poverty, Filipinos view overseas work as the only alternative to escape
from hopelessness. Overseas Filipino Workers will travel to other or foreign
nations, legal or not, just to escape the dark cloud of poverty.

The Overseas Filipino Worker phenomenon is a dynamic and a rising sector of

Filipino society. It began in 1974 and has yet to show any signs of slowing down.
According to a study entitled Migration and Filipino Children Left Behind, the
Philippines is a major supplier of working migrants to more then 100 countries. In
the 2015 Philippine statistics Authority survey, the number of OFWs had reached
2.4 million.

What are OFWs thinking?

OFWs believe that the intimacy of relationship is not essentially only by physical
presence but is determined by the willingness of parents to fulfill their duties. They
leave the household and sacrifice their time with their children out of reach and
love. Even when they found it difficult to separate from their children, they make a
sacrifice in order to “provide for the child’s material requirements.” Therefore, the
Philippine households view working overseas as a method of attaining to sustain
the needs and wants of the left-behind family, the children.

Do children Understand Why Their OFW Mother Have to Leave?

Commonly, Overseas Filipino Workers assume that their sons and/or daughters
fully understand why they have to leave, that they understand that this is for their
future and need. Even if they said that they understand, there will be always in their
hearts that asking and desiring hearts that want them. No matter how much an OFW
wants to believe that Skype and other social media communication offers some type
of intimacy or bonding… it doesn’t.

What Psychologists Say?

Clinical psychologists theorize that school-aged children, need more attention from
their mother for this is when fundamental psychological developments begins. The
expression of “buying love”, is bandied about secretly. Although children enjoy
these presents, they have more desire for a “complete” family. They would prefer
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to have both parents present at special occasions, a mother’s shoulder to cry on,
someone to help choose a gown to wear to a promenade and someone to ask tips
for. Children of OFWs are prone to physical, emotional, psychological, and
behavioral problems. And sometimes, because of these, the remittances that their
mothers sent is being waist on self-abortion.

The Truth Is…

Money is essential. There are millions of families that lack money yet they stick
together. However, don’t blame the OFWs mother because the choice they chose
are made out of desperation and emotional exhaustion. Children only have their
parents, their mother, to lean on, to hold on, and to get support from. Don’t leave
them fend for themselves and make them regret that they were born into a world
and a life they didn’t ask for.

VIII. Definition of Terms

Gross Domestic Product. Is a monetary measure of the market value of all the
final goods and services produced in a period of time, often annually or quarterly.
Chunk. A thick, solid piece of something.
Lamentable. That is to be lamented; regrettable; unfortunate.
Fret. A state of anxiety or worry.
Psychoanalyst. A person who practices psychoanalysis (is a set of theories and
therapeutic techniques related to the study of the unconscious mind, which together
form a method of treatment for mental-health disorders).
Delinquency. A minor crime, especially that committed by young people.
Cognition Framework. Cognitions (can be simply defines as the act of knowing
an item of information) precede behavior and constitute input into the person’s
thinking, perception, problem solving, and information processing.
Psycho-emotional. Describes thinking process and the ideas of adolescents, as well
as their emotional well-being.
Socio-spiritual. An adolescent’s relationship with other people and with God
refers to the social and spiritual well-being.
Adaptive behavior. Includes the age-appropriate behavior necessary for people to
live independently and to function safely and appropriately in daily life.
Fend. Look after and provide for oneself, without any help from others.
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