CHAPTER 2

RELATED REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies, foreign and local, after

the thorough and in-depth search done by the researchers. This will also present the

synthesis of works stated to fully understand the different perspectives upon looking

inside a broken family and its members.

Local Studies

The emotional maturity, anxiety and communication of a person is related to his

behavioral attitude. These factors have been widely studied by researchers, specifically

by Aquino et al. (2015), showing the comparison between the students belonging to a

broken family and those that don't. The study shows that children who experienced

parental divorce tend to experience more psychological and socio-emotional challenges

than peers from intact families. On the other hand, despite many adjustment difficulties,

these adolescents also show positive changes such as an impressive development of

maturity and moral growth, a more realistic understanding of finances, and progression

on taking new family roles and responsibilities.

On the sociological perspective, a study conducted by Tarroja (2010) presents a

closer look about the family relationships, structure and composition of Filipino families.

Filipinos have been described as family-centered, and families have been observed to

be closely-knit. In 2001, Tarroja reported in her book the results of the 1996 Philippine
Values Survey by the Social Weather Station indicating that "98.86% of the Filipino

respondents believe that the family was very important to their lives, 95% believe that a

child needed a home with both a mother and father to be happy, 80.64% disapprove of

a woman having a child as a single parent without having a stable relationship with a

man, and 87.58% disagree that marriage was an outdated institution." These findings

show that through a perspective of an adolescent, having a broken family equates to

one's poor emotional state, behavior and contentment.

In the studies done by Tarroja (2007), Borja (2000) and Delos Reyes (2002) on adoptive

families, adjustment of adopted children did not depend so much on their being adopted

but more so on the acceptance and support of the adoptive families.

Foreign studies

The Impact of Family Separation

According to the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, teenagers that is raised

by a single-parent or in a blended family are three times more likely to seek a

psychological help within a given year.

These are some statistics about the effect of divorce on children:

According to Dawson, twenty to thirty-five percent of children who are living with

both biological parents are physically healthy than those from broken homes. Children
who have divorced parents have greater possibility to experience injury, asthma,

headaches and speech defects than those children whose parents are intact.

There is a current data which supports that stress in a broken family is mostly

affecting the children. Divorce is seen, as the cause of the negative events and

psychological distress to the youths.

On the opposite side, a related article by Richards (2007) suggests that children

of divorced parents can also have a better understanding of life. They can be more

helpful in nature, caring and tolerant because of their experience. The fact that they

have had to go through the parent separation can give them practical skills such as

problem-solving skills. Their parents are not around so much that they have to take on

the responsibility Divorce can be positive but it is mainly down to the parents to make it

this way.

Foreign Literature

Based on the article by McLanahan and Sandefur (1994), the effects of single-

parent family life on children fall into two categories: those attributed to the lower

socioeconomic status of single parents and the short-term consequences of divorce.

Four factors are predictive of children's adjustment to the divorce of their parents: the

passage of time, the quality of the children's relationship with their present parent, the

level of conflict between parents, and the economic standing of the children's family. In
the first few years after a divorce, the children have higher rates of antisocial behavior,

aggression, anxiety, and school problems than children in two parent families.

Gongla (1982) gave a common explanation for the problems found among the

children of single parents has been the absence of a male adult in the family. The

relationship between children and non-custodial fathers can be difficult. Fathers often

become disinterested and detached from their children. In one study by Wallerstein and

Blakeslee (1989), more than 60 percent of fathers either did not visit their children or

had no contact with them for over a year. The loss of a father in the family can have

implications beyond childhood . However, the lack of a male presence may not be as

critical as the lack of a male income to the family. The economic deprivation of single-

parent family life, in combination with other sources of strain and stress, is a major

source of the problems experienced by both parents and children.

However, some of these problems may be attributed to a decrease in available

resources and adult super-vision; many of the negative effects disappear when there is

adequate supervision, income, and continuity in social networks .

An early work by Hogan et al. (2002) reveals that some families experienced a

number of significant difficulties in addition to separation, such as alcoholism, domestic

violence, parental depression. These difficulties may be intensified by the separation

and present further barriers to childrens coping.

Local Literature

Coping and support

Ignacio and Perlas (1994) identified that the coping mechanisms of Filipinos during the

family separation are the following:

Spirituality

Bayanihan/cooperative endeavour

Concern for the welfare of others especially family members and how they can

be helped

Gathering of family members

Over activity (overextension of ones capacity)

Doing relaxing activities/recreation

Creativity

Humour/laughter

Passivity/dependency

Anger and blaming others

 Suspiciousness

Smoking

Drinking alcoholic beverages

Crying

Denial of the pain and gravity of the situation

We can see in the list both healthy and unhealthy ways of adjusting. Children

differed considerably in their experiences of parental separation, and therefore it is not

possible to conclude that separation is either a positive or negative experience for

children. However, some patterns of shared feelings and perspectives were identified,

and these can contribute to greater insight into how childrens well-being can best be

supported and enhanced following parental separation.