Trends

That could affect the Filipino

youth

and our work as Educators

Sources:

Future Perfect: A McCann Growing Up Digital:

Pulse Exploration of Filipino Youths Social
the New Filipino Family Interactions in the
and Where it is Headed Internet
(Dr. Liane P. Alampay & Dr. Ma. Emma
(McCann Erickson Phils., 2007))
Concepcion D. Liwag, Department of
Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University)

The Narcissism
Epidemic: Living in the
Age of Entitlement
(Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. and W. Keith
Campbell, Ph.D., Free Press, New
York, 2009)
McCanns Pulse Survey

National coverage
Done in 2007
Probed Filipino familes NEEDS are
McCanns Pulse Survey
Matters probed:

What is the home environment like today?

Who is the contemporary Filipino home-maker?

What is he or she like?

What are the new challenges in home-making

nowadays? And how have family-building and
home-management styles evolved to respond to
the changing times?

What is the impact of technology on home life?

McCanns Pulse Survey
Explored 4 types of people:
Non-working mothers
Working mothers
OFW spouses
Single parents
Statistics
% of Women Who are % of Homes w/ an
Working OFW Member (2005)
1996 = 28% 11%

2006 = 38%
% of Teens w/out
Complete Set of
Unemployment Rate Parents (2005)
(2004)
1998 = 35%
Males = 8%
2005 = 47%
Females = 6.8%
What drives them

NON-WORKING MOMS
Need to allow husband to prove to the world
he is a good provider
Husbands also want to have someone do
work while he was away
What drives them

WORKING MOMS
Driven by a need to ensure the
education of their children
Strong desire to provide - not only for
the needs of children - but also for their
wants/desires
What drives them

OFW Spouse
Going abroad in response to pressing
financial needs of family
Driven by desire to provide for both
needs and wants of children
What drives them

SINGLE PARENTS
Mostly separated parents who married
young
Causes:
nagging wife
husbands womanizing
long-distance OFW relationships
child-beating ways of husband
What life is like for them
NON-WORKING MOMS
Hands-on approach to home-making/
mothering; most confident about home-
making ability
Constant struggle to make ends meet
What life is like for them
WORKING MOMS
Feel good about being able to provide
well for familys needs and wants
Challenged in balancing roles at work
and at home
What life is like for them
OFW Spouse
Enjoying an easier life; proud about their
improved lifestyle
But struggling to address intangible costs of
OFW-hood on marriage and children
What life is like for them
SINGLE PARENTS
Struggling with lack of funds, and the
challenge of raising kids single-
handedly
Children as sole emotional anchor
McCann Pulse Survey

A Common Preoccupation For All

Segments: Raising Children Properly in
This Day & Age
Fears & Concerns
Biggest Fears & Concerns of Parents in
Relation to Their Children
1. Getting Caught w/ a Sick Child & No Money
2. Early Teen Pregnancy and/or Marriage
3. Over-Addiction to Computer Games

Question for Educators: Are these THE problem,

or just symptoms of more basic things, e.g.,
problems at home?
These fears and concerns have a
significant bearing on how parents
today go about raising their children

Question for Educators: Could the Parenting

Style be contributing to the problem?
Parents' View: Be Brutally Honest About Life
Realities with your Children

This effectively prepares kids for what may lie

ahead as well as to ensure they grow up hardy
and not spoiled.
They hope it motivates their children to build a
better life than what they are experiencing now
It also promotes mutual honesty and
closeness with their children
Chores are a Good Way to Instill Values

Its a practical and smart way to run a home

So, every child is given a routine set of
responsibilities
It promotes self-sufficiency in case of
emergencies
It instills a sense of responsibility and
discipline early in life
One benefit of making kids do chores
is that it keeps them in the home

This is important for parents who,

more and more, view the confines of
their home as the only truly safe place
for their children today
The Prevalent Belief Among Todays
Parents:

Outside is where bad things and bad influences

reside...
Neighbors whose values parents do not trust
Bad habits from other kids (e.g., ang galing na mag-mumura)
The Internet caf (dapat alisin na yan!)
Napaka-importante na may-takot sa iyo
ang mga anak mo. Pero konti lang...
with a touch of affection pa rin. Gusto
mo siyang amuhin.
- Non-Working Housewife
Discipline Through Fear of the
Belt

The tradition of using the belt as a form of

discipline is alive and well. Almost all parents we
talked to - regardless of segment - habitually use
palo as a common way to punish erring kids.

Parents argue that using the belt is something you

cannot avoid - especially nowadays when children
are testier than ever before.
Disciplining children...what they say

Its More Effective if Dad Does it

Thats because dad does it better --he is much
stronger and it hurts more and kids tend to be
more scared of being spanked by dad.

Hence, for maximum effect, moms like threatening

disobedient kids about being spanked by dad.
Disciplining children...what they say

Moms Role is to Provide an Emotional

Counter-Balance
While mom does her own spanking, she assumes
a different role when it is dads turn: to soften the
fathers blow on the child.

She believes this is part of her role as the primary

source of love and comfort for her children.
While instilling discipline and good values
in children is central to the agenda of
parents...
...it appears that the growing/emerging
segments like working moms and OFW
spouses are struggling with it more and
more.
The Working Mom Challenge

Work-Guilt makes it difficult for them to

enforce discipline
Continued absence due to work has
weakened their moral authority
Hence, they seem to have more
complaints about discipline issues
Working moms feel that they are not able
to spend the ideal amount of time with
their kids
therefore, need to overcompensate for it
through material means
(causing internal dissonance in relation
to moms need to instill the value of
discipline)

Bribery?
Bribery?
The OFW Spouse Challenge

They want to ensure that their improved financial

situation does not corrupt their children
But, they notice their children displaying a strong
tendency of being boastful
Parents still feel they owe it to indulge their kids
more to make up for an incomplete home
And societys materialistic ways
makes it even more challenging
for OFW parents to keep their
childrens values in place...
The Discipline Challenge
Female OFW spouses are particularly
challenged in disciplining kids (as
opposed to male OFW spouses)
Their strong belief that dads are the ideal
deans of discipline in the home (as he is most
feared and belt-whips the hardest) leaves OFW
wives feeling incapable of putting disobedient
kids in their rightful place
The Discipline Challenge
Some parents Rewards-Based
deal with these Discipline
challenges in a Maghuhugas sila, pero
manner they are dapat daw bigyan din sila
ng P20 pang-computer.
most comfortable Minsan, kailangan kong
sabayan. (working mom)
with as a working
Para sumunod, sinasabi ko
mom or OFW na papadalhan ka ng
spouse... daddy mo ng Nike. (OFW
spouse, female)
 The Over-
Over-Indulged Child

A product of
the over-compensatory behavior of
working moms

the need for OFW parents to make up

for an incomplete home environment

the continued attribution of the role of

discipliner to dads (in homes with
absentee dads)
Disciplining a child is not
the only challenge. For
working moms, feeling
confident about the love
and affection of their child
is another
The OFW/Single Parent
Challenge
How to Explain the Reality of Their
Unique Situation to Their Children
These parents oftentimes find themselves at a
loss for words on how to explain why one parent
is missing
Furthermore, they are worried that their
unconventional home environment might have
adverse long-term effects on their child
The OFW/Single Parent Challenge
Positive Outcome
The Birth of the Maternal Dad - Heightened
Maternal Instincts of OFW Husbands &
Single Dads
It seems their affectionate, nurturing side has
become more pronounced
They have a heightened sense of selflessness
when it comes to their children
They have learned to do chores and have
picked up stereotypical moms coping habits
The New Necessities in the Home

Technology has become considered

necessities (as opposed to just nice to
have) at home nowadays.
From entertainment appliances to communications
gadgets, parents feel each home needs to have
them now
Family Leisure & Entertainment

The Trend Towards Home-Cocooning

Todays parents try to make their homes more
conducive to family entertainment and prefer
keeping family bonding moments at home

Having the equipment needed to keeping kids at

home allows less spending on some weekends, plus
keeps the children safe in the home during
weekdays
McCann's Summary of Current Home
Concerns

A culture of over-compensatory behavior

As more and more homes embrace a dual-income or
an OFW-based lifestyle, parents are discovering the
need to make-up either for lack of time spent with kids
and/ or for an incomplete home setting... usually
through material gratification
This will clearly have an impact on the values and
temperament of future generations to come
McCann's Summary of Current Home
Concerns

The gratification-driven generation

It seems the future generation of Filipinos will be
reared by parents who are over-compensating for
something lacking at home
As children whose values are formed by an
immediate rewards-based discipline, we may be
looking at a generation accustomed to getting
things easily, and who are driven only by
immediate gratification
McCann's Summary of Current
Home Concerns
The extremist approach to values formation
It seems parents have one of either two styles of
discipline and values formation: through punishment (the
province of dads) or through reward (more so in dual
income homes, OFW homes)

There appears to be the absence of a middle ground

And as the reality of the home environment changes, the

process of values-formation and discipline break
down
(as exemplified by the difficulty of women in disciplining their kids
properly when dad is away)
McCann's Summary of Current
Home Concerns

The rise of the maternal dad

Forced to cope with the absence of a female
in the home, many dads are learning to do
things they normally would have considered
feminine
And they are excelling at it, and imbibing
distinctly maternal values many moms from
the more conventional homes we talked to
wished their husbands had
McCann's Summary of Current
Home Concerns
The need to advocate responsible use of
technology
As consumer electronics and computer
technology become more commonplace in the
lifestyle of family members, the adverse impact
of these services are starting to emerge (e.g.,
over-addiction to the internet/ games)
There is a need to partner with home-makers
to ensure the introduction of these products to
the family are handled with more care
McCann's Summary of Current
Home Concerns

Progress has social costs

As people become more successful in
progressing the quality of life of their family as
indicated by the growing incidences of working
women/moms, the OFW trend, and so on, we are
seeing that such progress comes at a cost
Home-makers need to be aware of them so they
can address these in the best way they could
Growing Up Digital: Filipino Youths
Social Interactions in the Internet
(Dr. Liane P. Alampay & Dr. Ma. Emma Concepcion D.
Liwag, Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila
University)
Ateneo Survey on Metro Manila
Youth
High school & college, school-based youth
1,129 respondents
11 schools in 3 cities in Metro Manila
Ateneo Survey
Sought to understand the Internet as a
social context for adolescent
development
Probed the role of the Internet in the
development of key issues in the
adolescent transition:
the changes in parent and peer relationships
the construction of personal identity
Ateneo Survey
Measured:
Intimacy with Friends
Family Cohesion
Parent Communication (Mother and
Father)
Individuation
 Ateneo Survey
Significantly more females reported
using social networking sites
creating their own blogs and
blogging
sharing creations (art, videos,
photos, stories) online

Significantly more males

reported
playing online games
downloading music files
Ateneo Survey
Significantly more private school students reported:
using email, IM, and chat forums

playing online games

getting news

buying things online

blogging and reading others blogs

downloading music

creating webpages for themselves & others

remixing online material to their own creations.

Ateneo Survey
Accessing/ Instant Chatting Using Social
sending Email Messaging (IM) Network site

3.99 4.12 3.27 4.12

(1.50) (1.57) (1.60) (1.42)

On average, the youth respondents engage in these

Internet activities 3-5 days a week (i.e., 4 in a 6-point
scale, where 1=once a month or less, and 6=several times
a day).

There are significant differences in frequency by

adolescent stage only for email, with early adolescents
reporting significantly lower frequencies.
Ateneo Survey
Means (and SD) of Frequency of Social
Interactions in the Internet by Gender
Email IM Chatting Social
Networking
Males 4.12 (1.49) 4.31 (1.56) 3.60 (1.63) 4.28 (1.38)

Females 3.88 (1.49) 3.96 (1.56) 3.02 (1.54) 3.99 (1.43)

Note: scale is from 1=once a month or less to 6=several

times a day. All gender differences are significant at p < .05.
Ateneo Survey - Conclusions

The virtual world is a very real one for Filipino

adolescents
Urban Filipino youth, much like their
counterparts worldwide (Norton Online Living
Report, 2009), are enthusiastic users of the
Internet
Use online tools for multiple purposes of social
interaction, academic work, entertainment and
information-sharing, among others
Ateneo Survey - Summary

The Internet today has become a

prominent context for adolescent
management and nurturance of social
relationships with both peers and family
The digital world, indeed, is a salient
space where growing up socially is
taking place among the youth
 A parents view
(posted on Facebook by a 50-something father)

Facebook is not a social network site at

all: it links me to sons and daughters,
friends old and new, as well as peers-
near and distant. it's a forum for ideas-
general, politics, art, etc., a classroom
with a favorite college prof teaching, an
events board for a living art space we
run, a window to brilliant minds and
talents... in text, in pics and video
but growing up socially through
social networking has another face
The Narcissism Epidemic: Living
in the Age of Entitlement
Book written by co-authors Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. and W. Keith Campbell, Ph.D .
Study of a social phenomenon now affecting a
good percentage of American youth

(and American culture is very influential

worldwide)
The Narcissism Epidemic
Recent studies (Twenge, et al.) show that
narcissism in the US is rising at an alarming rate,
at epidemic proportions
It is no longer just a psychological condition of
individuals but has become a cultural trait
With the influence of the internet and media,
American culture gets copied to different parts of
the globe
(For many Filipinos, it is cool to be American)
Epidemic

An epidemic is usually declared when

more individuals are affected than would
be expected in a population
Narcissism
Inflated or grandiose sense of self

Thinking that one is special,

unique and entitled to better
treatment than others

Resorts to aggression when

insulted or frustrated
Uninterested in emotional warmth and caring in
relationships

Spends a lot of time and energy in making oneself look

and feel good and pumping up ones ego

Resorts to dishonest means to get what one wants

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)
uses 7 subscales to measure:

Authority

Exhibitionism

Exploitativeness

Entitlement

Self-sufficiency

Superiority

Vanity
The Narcissism Epidemic
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory was
administered to American college students
starting in 1979 (more than 25 years of data)
College students in the 2000s were
significantly more narcissistic than Gen Xers
and Baby Boomers in the 1970s, 80s, and
90s
By 2006, 2/3 of college students scored above
the scales original 1979-85 sample average, a
30% increase in only 2 decades
The Narcissism Epidemic
1 out of 4 recent college students answered
the majority of questions in the narcissistic
direction
Does not mean that they have the psychiatric
disorder means that they are tending towards
the personality trait of narcissism
Being highly narcissistic or a narcissist
is not the same as having a diagnosed
psychiatric disorder or a pathological level
of narcissism
The Narcissism Epidemic
Narcissism as a personality trait & as a
cultural condition
A rise in narcissism among individuals
A shift in shared cultural values, beliefs and
practices toward greater narcissism and self-
admiration
The Narcissism Epidemic

The upswing in narcissism appears to be accelerating:

the increase between 2000 and 2006 was especially
steep
The changes were especially large for women
Men still score higher than women, but young
women are closing the gap
The Narcissism Epidemic
The co-authors found 85 samples of 16,275
college students who filled out the Narcissistic
Personality Inventory (NPI) between 1979 and
2006
College students in the 2000s were
significantly more narcissistic than Gen Xers
and Baby Boomers in the 1970s, '80s, and
'90s
The Boomers, a generation famous for
being self-absorbed, were outdone by their
children
The Narcissism Epidemic
Trend toward narcissism in American culture has
been building for a long time
The college Boomers of the late 1960s
and '70s were more narcissistic and self-
focused than the college students of the
'50s and early '60s
E.g., I am an important person
1950s = 12% of teens
Late 80s = 80% of girls; 77% of boys
The Narcissism Epidemic
NPI Results 1979 2006:
By 2006, 2/3 of college students scored
above the 1979-85 sample average
A 30% increase in the sample average in
only two decades
1 out of 4 recent college students
answered the majority of questions in the
narcissistic direction
In self-confidence, personal excellence is seen as
being at the service of a higher purpose

Narcissists see themselves as The Purpose

Healthy self-confidence is
being replaced by narcissism
The Narcissism Epidemic: Chief
contributors
Parenting
Media
TV celebrity-worship
Reality shows - everyone wants to be seen

Desiring to appear and be treated like a

celebrity

New business in the US: personal papparazzi

Internet / Social media displaying the

self: look at me
Poster Girl: Paris Hilton!
The Narcissism Epidemic
Manifestations
2007 Economic Crisis
Began with the US housing sector
Living off CREDIT
The Credit Card
Enjoy now, earn later
Enjoy benefits without responsibilities
Entitlement
Concerns
Technology & Gadgets: the new necessities in
Filipino homes aids in the home cocooning
They also bring the outside world into the
Filipino home
Caution: we may be looking at a generation
accustomed to getting things easily, and who are
driven only by immediate gratification
Technology is neutral; but taking it for granted could
expose the Filipino youth to risk, and make parents
and educators miss opportunities for raising
children properly
Concerns
A growing number of Filipinos are driven by a desire
to provide not only for the needs of their children,
but also their wants
Susceptible to Narcissism?
A growing number of Filipino youth are growing up
in single-parent households
Source of guidance?
Concerns
Their absence from the home is driving a growing number of
parents to resort to one of two styles of parenting:
Reward if you pass all your subjects, I will give
you new Nike shoes; lack of time with the children
leads to overcompensation using material rewards
Entitlement; culture of immediate
gratification
Punishment - if you fail any of your subjects,
sasapatusin kita; lack of time with the children
could lead to a sense of urgency
and the use of more forceful means
Alienation from parents