Filipino adolescents' experience of parental separation

• Main Author: Chakkyath, Wilson G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Teenagers > Philippines; Teenagers > Philippines. and others; Adolescents; Counseling; Counselor Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3720; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/10558/viewcontent/CDTG004453_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explored the Filipino adolescents experience of parental separation. The respondents of the study consisted of 10 early adolescents (4 males and 6 females) and 10 late adolescents (5 males and 5 females). The early adolescents fall within the age bracket of 12-14 years old and the late adolescents fall within the age bracket of 19-21 years old. Employing the qualitative research design, the data was collected using in-depth interview and was analyzed using consensual qualitative research (CQR) method. The study specifically explored their experiences during both pre-parental and post-parental separation stages. Findings indicate that the Filipino adolescents went through variety of experiences during both stages and those experiences were influenced by their personality characteristics, support system and Filipino familial values. Parental conflict, which eventually led to the separation, was the key experience during the pre-parental separation stage. While most of the experiences of adolescents during the pre-parental separation stage revolved around the experience of parental conflict, much of their experiences during the post-parental separation stage were centered on the parental separation. They made use of a variety of adaptive and maladaptive strategies to cope with the situation. Irrespective of their age, both the early and late adolescents have some common experiences on the parental separation. The study shows that there are more similarities than differences in their experiences, for example, almost all categories under situational stressors, resource, cognitions and feelings are the same across groups. It is significant that the adolescents several experiences during the pre-parental separation stage continued and many of them changed or newly emerged during the post-parental separation stage. The higher frequency of continuity of experience shows that there is a relationship between the parental conflict and parental separation. The study has implication for adolescent counseling and family therapy.