Pa ge 1 Pa ge 13 7 American Journal of Human Psychology (AJHP) Distance Parenting and its Effects to the Children of OFW’s in Balayan, Batangas, Philippines Jocelyn C. Banaybanay1*, Ruel M. Panday1, Jean Karla M. Castillo1 Volume 3 Issue 1, Year 2025 ISSN: 2994-8878 (Online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.54536/ajhp.v3i1.4593 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajhp Article Information ABSTRACT Received: February 15, 2025 Accepted: March 26, 2025 Published: August 26, 2025 A child may be well provided for in a material sense, but utterly deprived of emotional nurturance; This places the child in a state of psychological conflict, even turmoil. He may be grateful on the one hand , but angry and hurt on the other (due to emotional deprivation). This paved the way for the researchers to conduct this study. The following are the Objectives of the Study:1.What is the profile of the OFW parent? the results showed that there are more OFW mothers than Fathers with 85 respondents or 61.15% percent and 54 Fathers or 38.84%. 2.Who takes care of the child? Father got the highest number of respondents with 43 or 31%, next is grandmother which got 34 or 25% and the lowest is grandfather which got 1 or 1% 3. What is/are the age/s of children? As to the age of the OFW children. The highest is age 16-20 which got 54 or 39%,And the lowest is ages 1-5 which got 10 or 7%. 4.What is the length of period the Parent is working abroad? majority of the OFW parents worked for 6-10 years which has 79 or 57%, followed by 1-5 years which got 30 or 22% and the lowest is 1616-20 years which got 6 or 4%. 5.What are the effects of distance parenting to the children left behind by OFWs.? well behaved got the highest with 67 or 48.25%,and the lowest is not behaved which got 4 or 2.9%. Across the country’s 17 regions, CALABARZON contributed the largest number of OFWs which was estimated at 15.9 percent or 159 in every 1,000 OFWs in 2021. Keywords Distance Parenting, Emotional, OFW, Parental Care, Psychological 1 Batangas State University-The NEU Balayan, Philippines * Corresponding author’s e-mail: jocelyn.banaybanay@g.batstate-u.edu.ph INTRODUCTION Parental care is undoubtedly important, but when one or both parent/s is/are away, there will surely be a reconfiguration of the roles and lines of responsibilities. This study aims to determine this reconfiguration and its effects on the extent to which the needs of children left behind are met. It also aims to recommend measures to mitigate the possible undesirable effects. The study finds mixed effects of having an OFW parent on meeting the rights of the child.The following are Objectives of the Study: 1. What is the profile of the OFW parent? 2. Who takes care of the child? 3. What is/are the age/s of children? 4. What is the length of period the Parent is working abroad? 5. What are the effects of distance parenting to the children left behind by OFWs? LITERATURE REVIEW Several studies (i.e., Cruz, 1987; Asis, 2000 & 2006; Parreñas, 2006; Bryant, 2007) conducted did not show a big difference in terms of attitudes, behaviors, and values between children of OFWs and non OFWs many studies on parenting correlates focused mainly on the time parents spend on parenting, or alternatively examined only a restricted range of parenting behaviors (Marsiglio et al. 2000; Planalp and Braungart-Rieker 2016) With respect to parental factors, fathers were generally more strongly influenced by their educational level and partner’s work demands than mothers (Grolnick et al. 1996; Roeters et al. 2009 More mixed findings were found on child factors: age and gender of the child were found to be related to the parenting behavior of mothers only (Verhoeven et al. 2012), to the parenting behavior of both fathers and mothers (Lam et al. 2013), or to that of fathers only (Chaplin et al. 2005; Wright et al. 2013) . More mixed findings were found on child factors: age and gender of the child were found to be related to the parenting behavior of mothers only (Verhoeven et al. 2012), to the parenting behavior of both fathers and mothers (Lam et al. 2013), or to that of fathers only (Chaplin et al. 2005; Wright et al. 2013) MATERIALS AND METHODS The researchers used the descriptive method of research since it involves collecting data from the respondents in order to answer the questions concerning the study. The respondents of the study and the close relatives of the OFW who looks after the child left by the OFW parent. Self -made Questionnaires which is validated is the main tool in gathering data. All data that is gathered by the researchers is treated statistically, with the use of frequency count and percentage, weighted mean. Mathematical Expressions and Symbols Weighted mean is a type of average that helps in contributing equally to the final mean when some data points are weighted more than the others. It is most commonly used in statistics when the data is associated with the population. Weighted mean = Σwx/Σw Pa ge 13 8 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajhp Am. J. Hum. Psychol. 3(1) 137-139, 2025 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The following are the Results of the Study: 1. What is the profile of the OFW parent? the results showed that there are more OFW mothers than Fathers with 85 respondents or 61.15% percent and 54 Fathers or 38.84%. Compared to public perceptions about the negative impact of distance parenting to children, most research studies reveal a different perspective. Several studies (i.e., Cruz, 1987; Asis, 2000 & 2006; Parreñas, 2006; Bryant, 2007) conducted did not show a big difference in terms of attitudes, behaviors, and values between children of OFWs and non OFWs Male overseas workers in age group 45 years and over comprised the largest share of 29.1 percent, while those in age group 30 to 34 years had a share of 22.1 percent. For female overseas workers, the largest share (24.0 %) belonged to age group 30 to 34 years followed by those who were 35-39 years which comprised 20.9 percent of the 1.10 million female OFWs. 2. Who takes care of the child? Father got the highest number of respondents with 43 or 31%, next is grandmother which got 34 or 25% and the lowest is grandfather which got 1 or 1% 3. many studies on parenting correlates focused mainly on the time parents spend on parenting, or alternatively examined only a restricted range of parenting behaviors (Marsiglio et al. 2000; Planalp & Braungart-Rieker, 2016) With respect to parental factors, fathers were generally more strongly influenced by their educational level and partner’s work demands than mothers (Grolnick et al. 1996; Roeters et al. 2009) 3. What is/are the age/s of children? As to the age of the OFW children. The highest is age 16-20 which got 54 or 39%,And the lowest is ages 1-5 which got 10 or 7%. More mixed findings were found on child factors: age and gender of the child were found to be related to the parenting behavior of mothers only (Verhoeven et al. 2012), to the parenting behavior of both fathers and mothers (Lam et al. 2013), or to that of fathers only (Chaplin et al. 2005; Wright et al. 2013). 4. What is the length of period the Parent is working abroad? majority of the OFW parents worked for 6-10 years which has 79 or 57%, followed by 1-5 years which got 30 or 22% and the lowest is 1616-20 years which got 6 or 4%. 5 Saudi Arabia is the leading destination of OFWs In 2021, the top five destinations of OFWs were the following: Asia (78.3%), Europe (9.3 %), North and South America (8.9%), Australia (2.2%) and Africa (1.3 %). Of the total 1.83 million OFWs in 2021, about 24.4 percent worked in Saudi Arabia followed by United Arab Emirates at 14.4 percent. Other countries in Asia with large number of OFWs include: Hongkong (6.7%), Kuwait (5.9%), Singapore (5.8%), and Qatar (4.8%). 5. What are the effects of distance parenting to the children left behind by OFWs.? well behaved got the highest with 67 or 48.25%,and the lowest is not behaved which got 4 or 2.9%. According to Parreñas (2000), these female migrant workers have to endure the pain of leaving their families and not being able to directly communicate and attend to the needs of their families. Emotionalstrains also plague transnational families. These families suffer feelingsof loneliness, guilt, and emotional detachment toward their migrantrelatives. (PDF) Gender, transnational communication, and aspiration for future overseas work among OFW childrenIn the study entitled “Effects of Emotionally Absent Parents on the Behavior of Adolescents in Selected Secondary Schools in Machakos Country, Kenya” by Joseph Mutie conducted in 2009 This is similar to the present study which stated that parents have a role to play in shaping behavior of children through the process of nurturing. On the other hand, it is different from the present study because it only included the emotional. By sex disaggregation, more women were reported to be working overseas, accounting for 60.2 percent or 1.10 million in 2021. On the other hand, 39.8 percent or 0.73 million were male OFWs. The same trend was observed in 2020 where 59.6 percent or 1.06 million OFWs were women, while 40.4 percent were men. By age group, the highest number of Overseas Filipino Workers in 2021 were in age group 30 to 34 years (23.2%), followed by 45 years and over (23.1%), and 35-39 years (19.9%). Male overseas workers in age group 45 years and over comprised the largest share of 29.1 percent, while those in age group 30 to 34 years had a share of 22.1 percent. For female overseas workers, the largest share (24.0 %) belonged to age group 30 to 34 years followed by those who were 35-39 years which comprised 20.9 percent of the 1.10 million female OFWs. CONCLUSIONS As to the psychological behavior of OFW children when parent is not away or at home well behaved got the highest with 67 or 48.25%, next highest is sometimes behaved which got 41 or 29.5% and the lowest is not behaved which got 4 or 2.9%. This only means that children of OFW parents are well behaved when their parent is at home. As to the psychological behavior of OFW children when parent is away or at not home well behaved got the highest with 79 or 56.8%, next highest is sometimes behaved which got 34 or 24.5% and the lowest is not behaved which got 4 or 5 .9%. This only means that children of OFW parents are well behaved when their parent is away or not at home. As to the emotional behavior of children of OFW toward other people, friendly got the highest with 96 or 69.1%, followed by unfriendly which got 11 or 7.9%. The lowest is has a low opinion of himself which got 1 or .7%. This simply means that most OFW children are friendly toward other people but has a low self- esteem. Pa ge 13 9 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajhp Am. J. Hum. Psychol. 3(1) 137-139, 2025 Acknowledgment The researchers would like to thank first of all the Almighty God for giving us knowledge and wisdom to write this study. Secondly, Batangas State University for approving this study and making us faculty researchers. And lastly our families, who supported us in this endeavor shat we can finish this work. REFERENCES Antman, F. M. (2015). Gender discrimination in the allocation of migrant household resources. Journal of population economics, 28, 565-592. Botezat, A., & Pfeiffer, F. (2017). The Impact of Parents Migration on the Well-Being of Children Left Behind: Initial Evidence from Romania (Discussion Paper No. 8225). Bonn: IZA. Graham, E., & Jordan, L. P. (2011). Migrant parents and the psychological well being of left behind children in Southeast Asia. Journal of marriage and Family, 73(4), 763-787. Mutie, J. O. S. E. P. H. (2015). Effects of emotionally absent parents on the behavior of adolescents in selected secondary schools in Machakos County Kenya. Unpublished Thesis. Rendeza, K. V. (2017). Hearts Apart: The Impact of Parental Migration on the Life of Left-Behind Filipino Adolescents. People: International Journal of Social Sciences, 3(3), 301-318.