Right parenting attitudes and practices promote positive social behavior among children.

This was confirmed in a study entitled “Parenting Practices that Promote Positive Social Behavior Among Preschool Children within the Family.” The study was conducted by Ms. Maria Perlita de Leon of the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Home Economics in 2009. The study aimed: 1) to determine how Filipino parents define positive social behavior, 2) how the development of positive social behavior is facilitated among the pre-school children in the family, and 3) what are the roles these parents play in developing this behavior among their children. Positive social behavior is defined as any social behavior that would benefit other people as well as develop one’s self-concept.

The site of the study was Valenzuela City in North Metro Manila, a community that evolved from an agricultural to an industrialized area. Home visits were conducted for 6 months on 15 families (30 children) with at least two children, one of whom is between 3 to 6 years of age. There were also face-to-face interviews with the parents and storytelling sessions with the preschool children after the 6-month observation period. These families had children enrolled in the daycare program. Eight (8) out of fifteen families were single earners (only the fathers are working).

Sample of children interviewed*

Filipino parents define positive social behavior as “mabuting asal” or good behavior such as being respectful and being obedient. The development of positive social behavior is facilitated among the pre-school children in the family in three ways: physical, or hurting the children whenever they commit mistakes, verbal or reprimanding the children and cognitive or the way of “processing” to the children their committed mistakes. Parents also have desired behaviors that they would want their children to develop: the fathers want the children to develop a sense of responsibility with the siblings and place a premium on integrity and love for the family. On the other hand, mothers teach their children respect and interpersonal relationship.

The parents identified factors that facilitate and inhibit the development of positive social behaviors. Good quality time with the family such as bonding moments improve the relationship within the family as opposed to the parents that put a wall between them and the child. “Obedience out of respect, understanding, and love is different from obedience of the child out of fear. Children follow the advice of the non-threatening parent,” Ms. De Leon said. Based on the responses of the parents, she also said that the 3 things that influence their styles of parenting are: individual experiences, family history and social network.

Sample of family interviewed*

Ms. De Leon recommends that flexible, sensitive and comprehensive parent education programs in the community should be implemented by the local government. For the daycare programs, parent-teacher conferences must be held during the 1st day of classes to enhance home-school cooperation which would help promote the holistic development of the child. Trained daycare workers must also train the parents regarding proper childcare and parenting practices. Non-working mothers in the community could be mobilized to create playgroups among their children in order to promote the latter’s socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

Ms. De Leon emphasized that it is important for working mothers to find time to de-stress themselves after work. “Sometimes, these mothers carry their stress to their children. Most of the working mothers are harsh and coercive compared to stay-at-home mothers. These mothers need social network and support groups outside their usual routine,” she added in order to mediate the stress brought about by working in labor-intensive jobs.

*As requested by the researcher, the faces of the interviewees are hidden in order for their identities to remain anonymous

By Gracious Romero

Since the boom of the call center industry in the Philippines in 2001, it has provided many job opportunities for Filipinos. Most of those who enter this field are young professionals, who are lured by the relatively high pay and attractive benefits. But unusual work hours, heavy workload and stress, when combined with higher pay, may result in risky lifestyles and negative effects on health.

Regardless of the industry they work in, young professionals face various health issues. A study conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) thus took a closer look at the lifestyle and reproductive health concerns of call center and non-call center workers in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. The study, which was funded by the Commission on Population (POPCOM), focused on these two areas since they have the highest number of call centers. Study results will help government agencies such as POPCOM and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in crafting appropriate policies and programs for the youth, particularly in relation to reproductive health.

Data gathering was done through key informant interviews, focus group discussions and a face-to-face survey. A total of 675 young professionals working in call centers and 254 young professionals working in other industries were interviewed. The respondents were between 18 to 34 years of age and reached at least 2nd year college.

The average age of the call center respondents is 25.4 years compared to 25.1 years for their non-call center counterparts. One of ten call center workers live away from their families, which is higher compared to non-call center workers.

Highlights of the Study

I.    Call center respondents have higher income and more work benefits than those from other industries.
Young professionals, regardless of type of industry, first entered the workforce at an average age of 20.  Call center workers earn more than non-call center workers and more of them have other work benefits such as life insurance, meal allowance, and other incentives. A high proportion of both call center respondentas and those from other industries regularly give support to their siblings and parents although this proportion is higher among call center workers. Two-thirds (2/3) of all young workers set aside an average of 3,000 pesos a month, with more males than females able to save regularly.

II.    In general young workers appear to have unhealthy eating habits and do not get enough sleep.

Respondents generally report fewer hours of sleep than the recommended eight hours.  On average, call center workers get less sleep than non-call center workers (6.2 hours vs. 6.5 hours, respectively). They also have a higher proportion with sleep problems (45% vs. 30%), particularly among female call center workers.

Call center workers drink more coffee per day than non-call center workers (2.3 cups vs. 1.7 cups). Young professionals in general drink about 1.5 bottles or cans of soft drinks everyday.

In general, young workers consume a lot of unhealthy food such as fried chicken, chips, burgers and fries.  Less than half (47%) of the call center respondents regularly eat three meals a day.  More female respondents skip meals—40 percent skip breakfast, 20 percent skip lunch, and 16 percent skip dinner.

The most common leisure activity is drinking alcoholic beverages, particularly among call center workers. Call center workers prefer to drink with co-workers while non-call center workers prefer to drink with non-co-workers. The other leisure activities usually pursued by young professionals are going to parties/bars/clubs and malling.

III.    More call center respondents are current smokers.

Forty-three percent of call center workers are currently smoking, compared to about one-fifth of non-call center workers.  Call center workers also smoke one stick more per day than their counterparts in other establishments (9 vs. 8 sticks, respectively).  Slightly more non-call center workers than call center workers currently drink alcohol (87% vs. 85%).

IV.    While risky sexual behaviour is high among young professionals in general, the levels are slightly higher among call center workers compared to non-call center workers.

V.    More call center workers rate their health as poor or fair compared to non-call center workers.

Majority of young professionals report their health as good, very good or excellent although more call center workers view their health as poor. In addition, more call center workers assess their stress levels as high or very high. More call center workers report health problems that they associate with their work such as throat, hand muscle, and eyesight problems.  More females than males experience symptoms that are linked to reproductive health problems such as painful urination, genital itching, and low libido/sex drive.

There is high awareness regarding HIV-AIDS among young professionals.  More call center workers talk about HIV with their partners. Very few young workers know someone with HIV.  Only 1 out of 9 young professionals feel that they are at risk of contracting the disease.

About three-fourths (73%) of call center workers have heard about the Reproductive Health Bill and 63% support it.  Awareness is higher among non-call center workers, with 86% having heard of the RH bill and 74% supporting it.

Value of the Study

Data obtained from the study will be used to fine tune POPCOM’s policies and services for the youth, especially in reproductive health. On the other hand, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) may use the data to know the work-related issues that the young professionals face in order to craft measures and policies to address these issues.

By Cedrik Ben Gayares and Gracious Romero

The fastest growing sector within the IT software and services industry generating thousands of jobs with high paying salaries, the call center industry has been tagged as the “sunshine industry in the Philippines.” However, the industry has been highly criticized for its depersonalizing effects especially on the call center agents. Please see, for instance, the report by the Population Institute of UP.

A study by Prof. Aileen Salonga of the Dept. of English and Comapative Literature at UP Diliman focuses on the concept of agency in Philippine call center discourse. Agency is referred to as the people’s capability to act and lead meaningful lives. The study sees agency as situated, that is, people’s potential to act is always negotiated within structures in society. This means that, as social beings, the kinds of agency that people have are different because they act in different kinds of socio-cultural contexts and occupy different positionalities in society. For instance, someone who comes from a good school and has a good command of English will probably be able to do more than someone who comes from a low-ranked school and whose command of English is poor. This means that the former will have more potential to act, more agency, so to speak, than the latter.

Prof. Salonga’s study examines the call center workers’ negotiations of agency in the offshore call centers, specifically in how they use and make sense of their linguistic practices in the call center workplace. She conducted twenty interviews with call center workers, mostly customer service representatives. The narratives of the informants provided valuable insights into how they see the call center industry, call center work and call center talk, what they think of the linguistic practices required of them and what value they assign to these practices.

These stories were tales of how structure (in this case, the call center workplace) and agency (the call center worker’s potential to act) play off in the lives of call center workers as they negotiate the various constraints of the job in ways that would afford them a certain degree of control, purpose and meaning. They do this by ascribing meaning and purpose to their linguistic practices in the workplace, thus repositioning call center work from something that is depersonalizing and embarrassing to something that can be empowering. They reposition call center work in various ways. First, they see their work as call center agents as a real job, and this is exemplified in the kind of language that they use, which they label as both professional and businesslike. Second, they don’t see their work as demeaning, as they believe that they are the ones in control of the call. While they may have to be polite even to rude customers, they use language to guide and direct the flow of the call. Third, most of them feel that they have a more sophisticated sense of the world largely because they use English in their work and they get to communicate with people from all over the world.

Thus, in contradiction to the negative perception on call center agents, the informants in Prof. Salonga’s study are said to feel empowered by the linguistic practices in the call center workplace. However, this sense of empowerment needs to be treated with caution as well, because even if her informants talk about being empowered, this sense of empowerment is highly differential and very much situated within the call center agents’ varying socio-cultural texts and positionalities within the social structure.

By Gracious B. Romero

As Dulaang UP turns 30 years, it can boast of the best in theatre. Well-known directors such as Chito Roño, Aureaus Solito, Chris Millado, Joel Lamangan, and Floy Quintos,—to name a few. Seasoned performers like Shamaine Centenera, Irma Adlawan, including those who have crossed from stage to screen such as Eugene Domingo, Candy Pangilinan and Frances Makil Ignacio. Also, a good number now occupy executive and managerial positions at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and theatre company such as the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).

Dulaang UP is the first recognized and official performing theater group and drama laboratory of the Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, University of the Philippines Diliman. Dr. Alexander Cortez one of its founders and its current artistic director, makes available a comprehensive history of the travails and achievements of the drama group in his study: “Dulaang UP (19676-2006): theatre in the academe in the Philippine setting”.

The Silent Soprano. Directed by Dr. Cortez, this was shown in 2007. Ricardo “Batch” Saludo’s new musical centers on a domestic helper Margie, whose golden voice captivates Hong Kong songwriter, Ricky. Mesmerized though he may be by Margie’s singing, big time record producer George thumbs-down the idea of a Filipino maid singing Cantopop – until he comes up with a daring scheme to sell her to the fans. The audacious plan catapults Margie to stardom, but she must follow George’s draconian rules to keep her place at the top of the charts. (Photo and text courtesy of UP Dulaang UP Office)

A Video Clip from The Silent Soprano courtesy of UP Dulaang Office

A Video Clip from St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos courtesy of UP Dulaang Office

By Gracious B. Romero