Stress-Resistance Resources and Strategies of Families in Facing Recurrent Flash Floods

Abstract

Plans and programs for social development are designed to bring improvement to human lives. Unfortunately, the results of social development are not always equated with improvements. The nature and implementation of these plans and programs are producing social problems such as problem in mass - based housing. The lack of mass — based housing projects are not only due to financial crises that the Philippines is facing today, but also because of the government’s prioritization to pay international debts rather than to focus on programs that aim to alleviate the very poor socio - economic conditions of the Filipino people. Housing problem is due to unemployment and uncontrollable rural to urban migration that result to wider phenomenon called massive poverty. Unequal development, an urbanization phenomenon, has been imposing certain restrictions that prevent individuals to attain self— actualization. Unequal development brings informal settlers and urban poor families who are pushed to settle in high — risk areas. These families are prone to natural occurring events such as flash floods, which threaten their own survival. This study entitled Stress — Resistance Resources and Strategies of Families in Facing Recurrent Flash Floods is aimed to identify stress — resistance resources that are essential to adaptation. It investigated on the utilization of adaptive personality traits, values and social support of the Filipino families to adapt on the imposing threats brought by the recurrent flash floods. The research study used the principle of stress — resistance paradigm and thus, shifted its focus from the traditional notion of stress that puts great concentration on pathology towards an emphasis on the capacities of people to maintain their physical and mental health during stressful event. The research study deals on the influence of personal resources and social support in family adaptation among the urban poor families living along the Tullahan River who experienced the occurrence of flash floods last May 18; 2000. Specifically, this study aimed to (1) describe the emotional and behavioral responses of parents and children during the pre — impact, impact and post — impact phases of flash floods; (2) to identify and describe the adaptive personality traits, values and forms of social support that were utilized by the parents and children; (3) to describe and analyze the relationships between personal resources and social resources on the formation of stress - resistance resources relevant to adaptation; and (4) to identify and describe the strategies used by parents and children in managing the stress. To achieve these objectives, an exploratory/ descriptive research design was employed and the family system was used as the unit of analysis. The instruments that were used for this study are (1) survey — questionnaire, semi — structured interview schedule and (3) modules for Focused Group Discussion. All of these instruments were expert validated and pre- tested. The limitations of the study are the following: (1) the study cannot generalize the whole sampling population because the research sample was relatively small, (2) there were more women interviewed and their answers might be heavily biased by their gender, (3) the level of role strains of the research sample was not measured and (4) the lack of scales to measure the level of stress of the research sample limited the discussion on the coping processes. The research participants were randomly selected using the systematic sampling technique. The adult respondents were originally composed of thirty-four (34) household heads but there were only twenty- eight (28) parents or eighty - two percent (82%) of the sample who agreed to participate in the interview session. The Focused Group Discussion participants, on the other hand, were composed of sixteen (16) children aged eight (8) to twelve (12) years old. With the use of descriptive statistics, the emotional and behavioral responses of parents and children during the flash floods were identified and analyzed. The research findings revealed that the emotional responses of parents influenced their children's emotional responses during the three phases of the flash floods. It is concluded that the similarity of parents’ and children's emotional responses during the three phases was brought by the parents’ and children’s appraisal of the occurrence of flash floods. Both parents and children perceived the flash floods as a threat to their physical and psychological security. Furthermore, it is also concluded that children assimilated their parents' emotional responses by pakikiramdam. Pakikiramdam is a cognitive - affective mechanism used by the sample to assess and evaluate the environmental cues and used these cues to determine the appropriate behavioral responses during the flood event. In terms of behavioral responses, the parents’ and children's behaviors were concentrated on activities that ensured the safety of their family members. The research study found out that the high family orientation of the sample drove them to perform flexible family roles and accomplished the tasks assigned to them. From these findings, it is concluded that the positive emotional responses exhibited by the respondents during the post - impact phase was due to the fact that the sample was able to maintain the social functioning of the family members by exerting active responses, which were supported by social values. The identified social values that influenced the behaviors of the sample were (1) pagpapahalaga, (2) pananagutan, and (3) pagmamalasakit. With these social values, the parents and children felt accomplished because they were able to save their whole family from the flash floods. On the adaptive personality traits, there were seven (7) personality traits that the adult respondents, the parents, perceived helpful in managing their emotions and directing their behaviors during the flood event. The perceived adaptive personality traits among the parents are (1) tiwala sa sarili, (2) mabait, (3) matulungin, (4) maawain, (5) mapagparaya, (6) matibay ang resistensya, and (7) alerto. The children, on the other hand, perceived themselves as (1) matapang, (2) mabait and (3) matulungin. These adaptive personality traits are considered self - labels that are used for positive self - appraisal. Self - efficacy is also developed through positive self - appraisal. Positive self - appraisal fosters optimism among the parents and children. Among the sample, the adaptive personality traits regulated and facilitated the utilization of social support. Instrumental support is the main social support received by the parents and extended by the children. The parents exhibited help — seeking behaviors during the flash floods. The parents asked for assistance from their informal sources of social support On the other hand, the children manifested more help - giving behaviors. The parents and children perceived that the social support that they received and extended indicated that they were people with mabuting - loob. Based on the research findings, it is concluded that the adaptive personality traits facilitated the utilization of social support. Social support, on the other hand, also strengthened and developed these adaptive personality traits by conveying information that is relevant to positive self -evaluation and self - appraisal. The adaptive personality traits and availability of social support propelled the sample to use active coping responses. Among the parents, /akas ng loob was utilized to manage the stressful event. Lakas ng loob has cognitive and behavioral dimensions that is learned as one undergoes life - threatening event such as childbirth. On the other hand, according to the children, their families used pagtutulungan to face the problems brought by the flash floods. The children’s ability to contribute to their families by performing household chores helped them to manage their emotions and even their mental health. The responsibility training, a part of the Filipino child - rearing practices, prepares the children to assume responsibilities and perform meaningful household tasks. By performing these tasks, they were able to see themselves as valuable members of the family. It is concluded that the ability of the children to cope with the stressful event is embedded on the child-rearing practices that also provides informational support relevant to positive self — appraisal. Therefore, lakas ng loob and pagtutulungan are stress - resistance resources learned out of coping with the flash floods. These stress - resistance resources are the combination of adaptive personality traits, values and social support. Stress - resistance resources either act directly or mediate between coping strategies and adaptation depending on how the affected population assessed the flash floods as high or low stressor. Among the sample, the flash flood was assessed as a high stressor. Therefore, the combination of adaptive personality traits, social values and social support formed /akas ng loob and pagtutulungan and these stress — resistance resources acted directly as coping strategies. It is concluded that stress - resistance resources are embedded on the value systems, child — rearing practice, social support system and personality of the Filipinos. From the research results, it is recommended to the future researchers to conduct studies on the conceptual definition of lakas ng loob among the Filipinos. Moreover, it is also recommended to the future researchers to construct scales that can be used to measure the adaptive personality traits, level of social support and strength of Filipino families. In addition, it is also recommended to improve the modules used in this study. It is also recommended to investigate on the effectiveness of the activity - based processing as psychological intervention among the disaster affected population. Furthermore, the local government and other agencies assigned on disaster prevention and mitigation are encouraged to empower and educate the Filipino families on proper disaster management in the family and community level by disseminating information and conducting training programs for families and local community leaders. It is also recommended to the general population to develop and strengthen their adaptive personality traits, values and social support because the best way to deal with life's stresses is harnessing and reinforcing the power embedded within the families’ socio — cultural environment.