Abstract:
This study tackles one of the most relevant social issue in the country today—fatherabsence
among Filipino families brought upon by the social phenomenon known as the
Filipino Diaspora, the scattering of Filipinos around the world as domestic workers.
(Wehfritz, Vitug et al., 2006). By knowing how adolescents cope up with the loss of a
father figure, either by separation, overseas work or death, the researcher can assess the
behavioral effects of such loss. The objectives are to know the social and emotional
complications that the adolescent will have to go through in such a social context, and
what psychological and sociological problems arise from the youth’s life given his/her
father’s absence. Furthermore, this study also hypothesized that father absence by
separation and overseas work have worse effects than by death where the family even
with a deceased father figure remains intact. A purposive survey was conducted using the
WHO Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) to test for possible psychological disturbances,
followed by indepth one-on-one interviews. Based on the SRQ, the results show that
psychological disturbance was more common among adolescents whose fathers separated
from or abandoned the family, compared to those whose fathers were working overseas or were dead. However, among adolescents with father-absence by death, feelings of gratefulness and awe towards their late father was pervasive. For adolescents under
father-absence by overseas work, a small amount of disgust towards the father and a
noticeable passivity was observed during the course of the interview. The interview
results also revealed that resentment and emotional dependence were the key behaviors
exhibited by adolescents, specifically those in the Separation and Overseas Work father categories. It also showed that separation by proximity of father and offspring develops
passivity and even scorn among adolescents. The research recommends a full-scale
quantitative research on the matter.
