"WHAT WILL BEST UNDERSTAND THE PERSONALITY OF FILIPINO ADOLESCENTS?"
by: Aldwin Murphy B. Kwek, RGC, RPm
1st Semester SY 2015-2016
Silliman University, Dumaguete City
The famous line and definition by Dr. Jose P. Rizal on the youth that, there are the hopes of tomorrow still lingers on my mind. Will these youth of today become really the hope of our future? Well, on one hand for sure it takes a lot of courage and striving on the part of the youth of today to become the hope of tomorrow. On the other hand, it also takes a great challenge for the rest of the people to understand and even aid the youth in shaping their values and character toward stewards of dependability. I believe so that these youth /or adolescents will one day be our hope, if we, the rest of the people in the community join together to help develop them become responsible men and women in the future. Doing so, the first step in developing the youth is to understand them, being aware especially in terms of their psychological development and changes that these adolescents are facing and in crisis.
According to Hall (1904), adolescence is the period from 12-23 years of age and it is characterized by considerable upheaval. The storm-and-stress view is Hall’s concept that adolescence is a turbulent time charged with conflict and mood swings. While Margaret Mead (1928) concluded that the basic nature of adolescence is not only biological, but rather sociocultural as well. In the Philippine context, there seem to have some existence of gaps and challenges in the classification of adolescence which refers to the varying definition of adolescence in age group in years. The government agencies and the non-government organizations as well have differing definitions, for example in the Department of Health (DOH) 10-24 years; Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 15-21 years; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Technical Education and Skills Development (TESDA) 15-24 years; Foundation of Adolescent Development, Inc . (FAD) and Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) 15-24 years. Nonetheless, with these unamalgamated definition of adolescence in terms of age in years, still the impact of society – the people around may it be having a direct or indirect contact with them can never be set aside, for it thus helped shaped the youth of today.
Adolescents go through the physical changes of puberty, the timing of which varies more with the individual than it does with the country of origin. The transitional phase is often associated with emotional changes: confusion, turmoil, arrogance, anxiety, and insecurity. Underlying all these changes is the process of establishing an identity and a personality. Adolescents search for their values and make life choices, under the influence of peers, parents, and authority figures. Specific to the Philippines are close family ties and obligations. For example, vocations and avocations may be dictated by family tradition. Young people may seek the freedom to state their opinions, but will come to the aid of family members in crisis. Indeed socio-historical conditions contributed to the emergence of the concept of adolescence (Santrock, 2007. p-6). No girl or boy enters adolescence as a blank slate, with only a genetic code to determine thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Rather, the combination of heredity, childhood experiences, and adolescent experiences determines the course of adolescent personality development (Santrock, 2007 p 16.).
Defining personality in a strict sense, it refers to a stable core of emotions, dispositions, attitudes, and behaviors that uniquely characterize a person at a specific point in time and shape the development across the lifespan. Many psychologists proposed that personality traits remain stable. Looking at some numerous long-term studies (McCrae & Costa, 2005) which were carried out over the past twenty years showed that although personality traits might change during childhood, by adulthood they are quite stable. The study of personality is without a doubt useful, because what one discover about oneself and others now is likely to still hold true years later – "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." Understanding how recurring behaviors shape our personalities can help us function more efficiently, get along better with others, and squeeze more flavor our of life (Berecz, 2009 p.3). At one point in time of our lives we thus undergo the period of adolescence in terms of development in which many consider this stage as hard to fathom. Putting the general understanding of adolescence in relation to the Philippine culture can help one understand the personality of the Filipino adolescents.
When one read a book about adolescence, one can find that there are so many perspectives, theoretical foundations, contexts, and models that describe, explain, analyze, and even conclude the nature and dynamics of adolescents, the youth of today in diverse expressions. Some of these perspectives are as follows: Contextual perspective – takes into consideration the influence of ethnicity and culture on adolescent’s development; Constructive perspective – this views perception as an active, constructive process which assumes that we actively construct what we know of the world, interpreting our experiences, composing or making sense of the events to which we react; and Developmental /or Life Span perspective – is multidisciplinary, providing several perspectives from which to view adolescence in various discipline. In this paper I am going to describe and answer the question: "What will best understand the personality of Filipino adolescents?". Moreover, on this article, it will be focusing mainly on the Bio-Ecological Theory as a contextual perspective as develop by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1990) to examine and grasp the concept of the personality of the Filipino adolescents. Since, basically one lives with these divergent systems and is seriously influenced by it.
Bio-Ecological Contextual Theory of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917- 2005)
This bio-ecological contextual theory consists of five environmental systems, ranging from the direct interactions with social agents to the broad-based inputs of culture. The five systems are microsystem – the setting in which the adolescent lives. This includes the family, peers, school, and neighborhood; mesosystem – involves relations between two or more microsystems; exosystem – social setting in which the adolescent does not have an active role but which influence the adolescent’s experiences; macrosystem – the culture in which the adolescent lives, social and political climate; and chronosystem – the pattern of environmental events and transitions over the life course, as well as socio-historical circumstances (Santrock, 2007). The highlight of this theory is focused on the interpersonal relationships and the very intimate nature of one’s environment. The environment always includes the self, in the form of how we experience our self in relation to something else, usually another person (Nancy J. Cobb, 2001). What an individual become it becomes as a result of interaction and mutuality with its environment.
The Biological Individual Adolescent
The biological component that makes-up of an individual comprises what and who one is. The sex, age, health considerations, and the physical dimensions are the aspects of the individual that fell on this category. Our biological composition influences us on our behavior definitely. The nature side of a person, how heredity and genetics build one’s personality are part of the development of an individual. According to Jean Piaget, mind and personality result from constructive activities low in the physiological zone – beginning with primary circular reactions and gradually evolving into higher-order cognitive patterns, groupings, and systems. Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood. On this period biological changes are rapid Piaget as well on his cognitive developmental stage model sees adolescence as a period of formal operation in which the capacity for abstraction, or reasoning using words and symbols that do not necessarily refers to objects in the real world, allowing adolescents to do math, think up poems, and mentally try out various solutions to problems, without having to actually engage in the behaviors; and self-consciousness peak during this period (Berecz, 2009. p. 362-370). Likewise, on the studies conducted by Carol Giligan on adolescents, she noted striking differences in the ways males and females think of themselves. These differences extend to the ways they resolve issues involving others. Gilligan finds that males tend to see themselves as separate from others; females describe themselves in terms of their relationships with others (Gilligan, 1982). These shows that within the individual person, the biological aspect needs to be look into in understanding the personality of Filipino adolescents, the bodily changes, sex difference characteristics, growth and development.
The Microsystem of an Adolescent
A microsystem is a pattern of activities, social roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by the adolescent in a given face-to-face setting with particular physical, social, and symbolic features that invite, permit, or inhibit engagement in sustained, progressively more complex interaction with, and activity in, the immediate environment. On this system, it consists of the context in direct contact with the individual, the family, peers, school, neighborhood, church group, health services. These entire context one way or another influence the adolescent in shaping his /or her personality in such a way. These environments as well provide the kind of role one adopts and play. Filipino adolescents specifically are bombarded as well with these contexts in the society. In getting to understand the Filipino adolescents, it is but proper to look into these various settings in the society in which the individual has an active participation. One has to look deeper and closer every context and consider the influences of these situations. The family, not just the immediate family member must be look into but as well the family extensions, relatives, for this environment I believe should be dwell with critically especially that one of the characteristics of Filipinos is the close family ties – family oriented. Filipinos possess a genuine and deep love for family, and is part of one’s main commitment and responsibility. It is the source of personal identity, emotional and materials support, which results in a sense of belongingness and rootedness in a basic sense of security. Moreover, the kind of attitude that gives honor and respect to parents and elders; care given to the children; the generosity given to kin in need, and in great sacrifices one endures for the welfare of the family (Licuanan, 1992. Strengths and Weakness of the Filipino Character). So, it is truly important to be aware of the family where one lives with in order to understand the adolescent.
Another value of a Filipino to be well thought-out is the "pakikipagkapwa-tao", the foundation for unity and social justice. Filipinos open to others and feel one with others (camaraderie and feeling of closeness), regard others with dignity and respect (sense of trust and gratitude), sensitive to the feelings of others This characteristic can be described as Filipinos basic sense of justice and fairness, concern for others, their ability to empathize with others. Furthermore, this is the sense of helpfulness and generosity in times of need, practice of "bayanihan" or mutual assistance, and hospitality (Licuanan, 1992). Therefore, with these characteristics on hand, the peers and neighborhood, together with the school or work environment should also be looked upon to see the influence of such setting. The kind of peer – the age group of people close to an individual who most of the time the individual is actively involved, the school or work climate and people around.
The kind of role that these various contexts had imposed to the adolescents and the impact or influence of such environment where an individual lives matter most to be considered in understand the personality of Filipino adolescents.
The Mesosystem of an Adolescent
This system comprises the linkages and processes taking place between two or more settings in which the adolescent actively participates. The interplay with the different contexts and the effects of one setting that resonate to other environment where on lives. Moreover, on this system, one has to look for the relation, communication, and participation of diverse the microsystems that impacted the individual. An example of this area is the work of Epstein (1983a, 1983b) on the developmental impact of two-way communication and participation in decision making by parents and teachers. The studies found out that those pupils from the elementary level where joint involvement was high not only exhibited greater initiative and independence after entering high school, but also perform well academically. The effects of family and school processes were greater than those attributable to socioeconomic status or race. Another example is the study conducted by Valdellon & Bance (2014) on the influence of social support on student motivation and engagement. The research found out that the higher the social support the more adaptive thoughts and behavior displayed by the students towards their studies. These given examples shows the linkages between two microsystems in which interplay and relations were present, thus one should consider this domain my looking closely in impact of these contexts in understanding the Filipino adolescents.
The Exosystem of an Adolescent
This system refers to one or more settings that comprise the linkages and processes taking place, at least one of which does not involve the adolescent as an active participant, but in which events occur that indirectly affect, or are affected by, what happens in the setting containing the adolescent (e.g., for an adolescent, the relation between home and parent’s workplace). This system extends higher than the mesosystem domain. The relation, communication, and participation of an individual must be considered still on this system.
Most research in the early 80’s has focused on three exosystem – the parent’s workplace, family social networks, and neighborhood-community contexts that is likely to have an influence of the microsystem (family, school, peer groups) and affects the development of an individual indirectly (Bronfenbrenner, 1994).
The Macrosystem of an Adolescent
This large outer system may be thought as the societal blueprint for a culture or a subculture. It consists of the overarching pattern of micro-, meso-, and exosystems characteristic of a given culture, with a particular reference to the belief systems, body of knowledge, material resources, customs, lifestyles, opportunity structures, hazards and life course options that are embedded in each of these broader systems. Furthermore, these are the norms, labels, stereotypes, and roles that the society through its culture emanated from.