Si Mama o si Yaya?: a comparative study on the lived experiences of Filipino youth raised by caregivers versus mothers.

Abstract

This study focused on the lived experiences, assessed on three domains such as Self- esteem, Academic Performance and Socialization, of youth aged 12 to 16 years living in Muntinlupa City raised by either their mothers or their yayas, as what we call here in the Philippines.

The study used qualitative method, specifically phenomenology. Phenomenology, according to Stan Lester (1999), is concerned with the study of experience from the perspective of the individual, ‘bracketing’ taken-for-granted assumptions, and usual ways of perceiving. Case study method was used to focus on each of the respondent’s experiences on how they were raised by his/her caregiver. Purposive snowball sampling method was used since there was no definite number of children in Muntinlupa who were raised with yayas or caregiver. Ten youth formed one group raised by their mothers and another 10 youth formed another group raised by caregivers. In-depth interviews were conducted to obtain substantive information from the respondents. Thematic analysis was done on the lived experiences and on the three domains of each group and was later on compared between the two groups.

The different effects seen among the two groups are as follows: those youth raised by their mothers described themselves as better members when working in a group while the other group described themselves as better leaders, the group raised by their mothers said that they had high grades in school while the other group said that they only had average grades, those youth raised by yayas showed that they recite more often in class compared to the other group. In terms of their social activities, results showed that the group raised by yayas showed engagement into bad activities such as drinking and not coming home early. One common theme seen in both groups was that they had their family and/or parents served as their inspiration and motivation in studying well and in reaching for their dreams. Both groups showed very high regards towards their parents, even if those youth raised by yayas treated their yayas as their ‘second mothers’. The results however, does not simply show due to the effects on the parenting style of their caregivers but other factors affected the three domains on each individual. One big factor is the difference on the socio-demographic profile of each respondent which showed big differences with another.