WHAT LIES BENEATH: The Quality of Father-Daughter Relationship and its Effect on Adolescent Romantic Relationship

Abstract

The storm of adolescence: it is in this particular age that they try to learn and acquire experiences gradually by themselves. That is why adolescents are the ones who get confused most of the time and in this stage where they learn on their own, many factors can influence their ways. Eventually for a female adolescent, distant affection to her father may develop because she only sees him as the disciplinarian and not her close friend. With reference to present situations, the affection may now be shifted towards the adolescent opposite sex that may result to poor romantic relationship. The study seeks to know if the quality of father-daughter relationship be a reason for the prevalence of adolescent romantic relationships among female ages 13 to 19 – in spite of uncertainties and risks such as academic distraction, conflict with parents, emotional harm, and rushed maturity that the female adolescent can encounter from committing in this kind of relationship. The researcher employed a survey questionnaire measuring the attitude of the female adolescent to their father and did in-depth interviews of female adolescents within the target population. Through the research, adolescent daughter's relationship with her father has been proven to also be a cause for the occurrence of romantic relationships aside from the other causes like Peer Pressure. The family plays a great part on the attitude of a female adolescent towards engaging in a romantic relationship with the opposite sex. Fathers showed to be significant in the daughter’s social development, education and emotional well-being as well as on the adolescent’s decision to engage in a relationship. Through the course of the study, it has been found that conflict between the father and the daughter happens because of a number of factors like conflicting ideas, uninvolved fathering and too-controlling parenting. Likewise, advantages and disadvantages and reasons for engaging in romantic relationships have been determined from a Filipino daughter’s perspective. The researcher recommends further research on the relationship of the father and the female adolescent especially in the Filipino family. This is not just on its effect on adolescent romantic relationships but also on other aspects of the adolescent’s development. Also, deeper analysis of sibling relations for example to an older brother may be proven to have an effect on the female adolescent’s perception of the opposite sex and romantic relationships.