A Comparative Study on the Egoism-Altruism Spectrum of Behaviors Among Filipino Adolescents, Young Adults and Middle-Aged Adults

Abstract

This study utilized a sequential-explanatory (mixed-methods) design to compare the egoisticaltruistic personality among male and female Filipinos under three age groups: adolescence, young adulthood and middle adulthood. Following Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development and Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development as theoretical frameworks, the main objective of the study is to find a developmental pattern of altruism and egoism from adolescence to adulthood. Moreover, the study aims to determine whether males and females differ in their egoistic and altruistic personality, investigate the correlates of egoism and altruism in terms of age and sex, and identify the factors affecting the egoistic and altruistic tendencies of Filipinos. The study randomly selected 300 Filipino Catholic respondents (100 adolescents of 50 males and 50 females aged 16-19, 100 young adults of 50 males and 50 females aged 20-40 and 100 middleaged adults of 50 males and 50 females aged 41-65) who have already finished schooling or are currently attending school and residing within Metro Manila with average to high socio-economic status. For the quantitative part, survey questionnaire using the Self-Report Altruism Scale (SRA) by Rushton, J. P., Chrisjohn, R. D. and Fekken, G. C. was administered to all respondents. For the qualitative part, 45 respondents (15 adolescents, 15 young adults and 15 middle-aged adults) were personally interviewed regarding the reasons and motives for their egoistic and altruistic behaviors using a behavioral questionnaire. Results revealed that the variable sex does not affect the egoistic and altruistic personality of the respondents because there is no statistically significant difference between males and females in terms of their scores in the SRA-scale (p-value = .756). However, the variable age is a significant factor on egoism and altruism as statistics showed that there are significant differences among adolescents, young adults and middle-aged adults in terms of their scores in the SRA-scale (p-value = .000). Furthermore, a positively moderate to strong relationship was established between age and SRA scores indicating that there is indeed a developmental pattern behind the egoism-altruism spectrum with a correlation coefficient of .601 at p-value .000. A computational formula was then created using regression analysis implying that altruism increases by 0.543 each age level as a developmental trend. Lastly, the other factors that affect the motives and reasons for egoistic and altruistic behaviors of respondents are psychological, social, moral and cultural. Social factors include familiarity, reciprocity and prejudice while cultural factors comprise of Filipino values and belief systems that influence motivations for behavior. Psychological factors revealed a developmental pattern as sympathy and help instinct transform into empathy and helping personality from adolescence to middle adulthood. Moreover, moral factors among the three age groups transition from guilt-based altruism to moral obligation to moral principle-based altruism. Psychological and Social factors both influence egoistic and altruistic behaviors but the moral and cultural factors permit only altruistic behaviors and inhibit egoistic tendencies.