POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

GENDER DIFFERENCES, INFIDELITY, DYADIC TRUST AND JEALOUSY

AMONG MARRIED FILIPINO INDIVIDUALS

A THESIS
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate School,
Polytechnic University of the Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER IN PSYCHOLOGY
with Specialization in Clinical Psychology

Christine Joy D. Peñamante, RPm

March 2020
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CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
A recent change in the Philippines’ educational system was implemented
starting in 2011. The K-12 curriculum was signed into law back in 2013, adding three
years to the country’s basic education curriculum. The new K-12 curriculum guide
requires all Filipino students to have one year of kindergarten, six years of
elementary schooling (grades 1 to 6), four years of junior high school (grades 7 to
10), and two years of senior high school (grades 11 to 12).
The transition began in 2011, when the universal kindergarten was
introduced. Starting in 2012, schools already implemented the curriculum
decongestion mentioned in the DepEd briefer.
Public schools began having half-day classes for grade one students, with the
mother tongue as the medium of instruction. Private schools also made adjustments
in their own DepEd accredited curricula. The adaptation of the K to 12 curriculum
guide means that students will graduate a bit older compared to those who
graduated under the 10-year education cycle. Far from being disadvantageous,
however, DepEd states that young adults graduating at age 18 or so will be more
prepared to take on their tertiary education.
According to research, depression can be prevented if its symptoms are
addressed early and effectively. Prevention against depression among university
students is rare in the Philippines, but is urgent because of the rising rates of suicide
among the group. Evidence is needed to systematically identify and assist students
with higher levels of depressive symptoms. We carried out a survey to determine the
social and demographic factors associated with higher levels of depressive
symptoms among 2,436 Filipino university students. The University Students
Depression Inventory with measures on lethargy, cognition-emotion, and academic
motivation, was used. Six of the 11 factors analyzed were found to be statistically
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significantly associated with more intense levels of depressive symptoms. These
factors were: frequency of smoking, frequency of drinking, not living with biological
parents, dissatisfaction with one's financial condition, level of closeness with parents,
and level of closeness with peers. Sex, age category, course category, year level
and religion were not significantly related. In identifying students with greater risk for
depression, characteristics related to lifestyle, financial condition, parents and peers
are crucial. There is a need to carry out more surveys to develop the pool of local
knowledge on student depression.

Statement of the Problem

This study attempts to identify the severities of depression of the senior high
school students from different academic tracks and to know if there is a significant
difference between those 4. Specifically, the study aims to answer the following
questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of the

following:
a. Age;
b. Sex;
c. SHS Academic Track

2. Using the PHQ – 9, what is the level of severity of depression of the

Senior High School students from the ABM – Accountancy, Business, and
Management Academic Track in terms of the following criteria:
a. Depressive symptoms
b. Anxiety symptoms
c. Eating Disorder symptoms
d. Alcohol Abuse symptoms
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
3. Using the PHQ – 9, what is the level of severity of depression of the
Senior High School students from the STEM – Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics Academic Track in terms of the following
criteria:
a. Depressive symptoms
b. Anxiety symptoms
c. Eating Disorder symptoms
d. Alcohol Abuse symptoms

4. Using the PHQ – 9, what is the level of severity of depression of the

Senior High School students from the HUMMS – Humanities and Social
Science Academic Track in terms of the following criteria:
a. Depressive symptoms
b. Anxiety symptoms
c. Eating Disorder symptoms
d. Alcohol Abuse symptoms

5. Using the PHQ – 9, what is the level of severity of depression of the

Senior High School students from the ABM – General Academic Track in
terms of the following criteria:
a. Depressive symptoms
b. Anxiety symptoms
c. Eating Disorder symptoms
d. Alcohol Abuse symptoms

6. Is there a significant difference between the severities of depression of the

senior high school students from different academic tracks?
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7. What are the factors that could affect this severities of depression of the
senior high school students?

Hypothesis
The hypotheses will be tested at 0.5 level of significance.

1. There is no significant difference between the severity of depression of the

senior high school students from the four academic tracks namely; a) ABM
– Accountancy, Business, and Management, b) STEM – Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, c) HUMMS – Humanities and
Social Science and d) General Academic.

2. There is a significant difference between the severity of depression of the

senior high school students from the four academic tracks namely; a) ABM
– Accountancy, Business, and Management, b) STEM – Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, c) HUMMS – Humanities and
Social Science and d) General Academic.

Significance of the Study

The purpose of the study is to know if there is a significant difference between
the severities of depression of the Senior High School students from the different
Academic Tracks in Sacred Heart Academy. This study is also significant for it aims
to know the factors of depression based on its present severities in the respondents.

This study will be beneficial to the following individuals:

The Students. The respondents of this study are the Grade 12 Senior High School
Students of Sacred Heart Academy in Sta. Maria, Bulacan. This study would be
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beneficial them to gain ideas about how their chosen academic track in the K to 12
curriculum could affect their depressive symptoms and other factors considered.

The Parents. In this study, parents of Grade 12 senior high school students would
know the factors that could affect the severities of depressive symptoms among their
children. This could give them information why there are instances their children
behave that way and for them to monitor every alarming behaviors. Their academic
tracks in school could also give the parents some information about the similarities
of the symptoms present in a specific academic strand.

The Institution. The measured severity of depressive symptoms among the grade
12 senior high school students would serve as a good information to the institution to
further explore about the interventions whenever their students face difficulties
emotionally and socially in studies. This could also help to understand what specific
academic tracks has the most number of students who is experiencing more severe
depressive symptoms.

The Future Researchers. The process and outcome of this study will produce a
great information to the field of Psychology that focuses its study to the severities of
depression and on how to deal with it beforehand. The study will provide additional
data for further analysis of the different academic tracks in the K to 12 curriculum
and how it affects some psychological factors of the grade 12 senior high school
students especially that this is a transition stage from high school to college level.
This may also help the future researchers to their studies related to this research to
broaden the knowledge and contribute to the field of Psychology.

Scope and Delimitations

This study has focused on the severities of depressive symptoms among the
Grade 12 senior high school students under Academic Track of K to 12 curriculum
here in the Philippines. This will only study the four academic tracks namely: a) ABM
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– Accountancy, Business, and Management, b) STEM – Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics, c) HUMMS – Humanities and Social Science and d)
General Academic. Senior high school students from the three other K to 12 tracks
will not be included in the study.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This part of the research contains the related literature and previous
researches pertinent to this study. This is to provide a validation and also for
theoretical justification for the hypothesis of the study.

Depressive Symptoms

Based on an extensive literature search done by Ekundayo et. al. in a

research entitled Prevalence and Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Among High
School Students in Hanover, Jamaica, they reported that this is the first study to
examine the correlates of depressive symptoms among adolescents in a rural
setting in Jamaica. Their findings indicated that rural Jamaican adolescents exhibit
levels of depressive symptoms similar to those reported in the literature for
equivalent groups in the Caribbean and elsewhere with over 14% of adolescents in
our study sample affected. This is in agreement with findings of Maharajh et al
among Trinidad and Tobago adolescents[20] and adolescents in the United
States[2,3,7] – all reporting the prevalence of depressive symptoms among
adolescents between 10-35%. More females than males experienced depressive
symptoms (15.7% vs.11.4%). This difference did not reach formal statistical
significance, contrary to what has been reported in most studies. However, a couple
of other studies have reported no significant gender difference in depression
between boys and girls. Shek reported no gender difference in his investigation of
the reliability and factor structure of the translated BDI among Chinese adolescents.
Compas et. al. also reported no gender differences in depressive symptoms
between boys and girls among US adolescents in community samples, finding only
statistically significant gender differences in those referred for mental health
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services. The lack of gender difference in our study may also be due to the relatively
smaller number of males compared to females in our study sample.

Findings from the study of Clark, 2015, suggest that depression symptoms
are common among college students, even through to the third year of college.
Parenting style continues to influence depression symptoms among young adults,
and dimensions of this construct appear to interact in producing effects. Even so,
this effect was small, which indicates that there may be more to be explained if we
are to understand more about depression among college students. It may be
important to assess other factors, particularly environmental stressors, contributing
to depression symptoms and etiology in this population.

“The findings of the study conducted in Turkey should be considered in terms

of the measures used to analyse the rate of depressive symptoms. As previously
emphasized, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) does not diagnose depression but
reflects depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, it is an excellent self-assessment
measure for both clinical and research purposes. As 45.1% of Turkish senior high
school students presented depressive symptoms; 17.1% presented with mild
symptoms and 37.9% were nonsymptomatic. Stratification by gender showed that
49.5% of females presented depressive symptoms, 17.5% with mild symptoms, and
33% were nonsymptomatic for depression. Fewer males were depressive (40.6%)
and even fewer had mild symptoms (1.6%), with 42.8% being non-symptomatic
fordepression. The observed level of depressive symptoms among the Turkish
senior high school students was, therefore, high. When reviewing the findings of
studies performed by Elal and Krespi (1999) and Kutner et al (1985) on hemodialysis
patient, it can be seen that Turkish senior high school students, who are preparing
for university examination are depressed at similar levels as hemodialysis patients.
In accordance with findings obtained by Kessler and Walters, (1998), the prevalance
of long-term depression among these young people is 25.2%” (Yildirim, 2007).
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According to Sta. Maria, 2013, the Philippines has a total population of 92.3
million that is very young (median age: 23) and growing at 1.9% annually. In 2009-
2010, 2.8 million university students were enrolled in the country’s 2,247 higher
education institutions. Of every 10 Filipino students, 6 and 4 are enrolled in private
and public universities, respectively. Of these students, 26% are enrolled in
business, 16% in medicine and allied programs, and 13% each are in engineering,
information science and education [17]. In contrast to their counterparts throughout
most of the world, Filipino students commence their university education at the age
of 15 or 16 years.

Filipinos place a high premium on formal education; a university degree is

strongly regarded as a primary requirement for social and economic mobility. In the
context of the collective aspirations of Filipinos to go abroad for lucrative
employments, the need for university education is even more compelling. Individual
students are thus pressured to excel or complete a degree, lest they bring dishonor
to their family and friends, and endanger their employment and life prospects. In this
respect, academic-related matters are salient issues for individual students and in
their relationships and conflicts with parents; these, too, can induce higher levels of
depressive symptoms in students.

“The significant associations of frequencies of smoking and of drinking with

depressive symptoms are aligned with extant empirical findings. The present study
revealed that Filipino students who smoked for some days (against those who did
not smoke) and who took alcohol for some days (against those who consumed
alcohol for longer durations) had higher depressive symptoms levels. In explaining
the associations of smoking and drinking, some studies tend to highlight the
psychopharmacological and symbiotic dimensions of these bivariate relationships.
This implies that students could have smoked or taken alcohol as an escape route
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from the burdens of psychosocial difficulties. In the case of drinking, in particular, the
use of alcohol usually precedes the symptoms of lethargy and social difficulties
associated with depression. Caution should be taken in appreciating these
interpretations, however. The variables were measured in this study based on the
number of days of smoking and drinking rather than the quantities of cigarettes and
alcohol consumed (these two are not necessarily equivalent indicators). Considering
that the rates of smoking and drinking among the Filipino youth are relatively high
(21.0% and 41.4%, respectively), these twin behaviors, specifically their frequencies,
need closer examination vis-à-vis depressive symptoms.” (Sta. Maria, 2013)

Many students believe that stress is normal in the everyday life of a college
student. Some might even say that stress can actually help students perform well,
this form of stress called ‘eustress’. But, oftentimes, students are not feeling the
helpful rush of ‘eustress’. In reality, they are silently struggling against the pressures
of academic life.

An award-winning study of Tristan Yuvienco from the University of the

Philippines gives a glimpse of the mental health dilemma among Filipino students.
Among the 135 college students he had surveyed, 96% reported feeling moderate to
intense bouts of depression in school. What’s more, 50% of those do not feel
empathy or understanding from friends and family.

According to National Statistics, suicide is the second leading cause of death

among Filipinos aged 15 – 29 years old. Coincidentally, this is the age bracket
where most college students, if not all, belong. Another pressing issue is that only
one out of three Filipinos will seek the help of a psychiatrist. One third might not
even be aware of their condition.
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Theoretical Framework

Theory of Educational Productivity (Herbert J. Walberg)

Figure 1.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Conceptual Framework

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: DEPENDENT VARIABLE:

Senior High School Academic Severity of Depression

Tracks

a. ABM – Accountancy, a. Depressive symptoms

Business, and b. Anxiety symptoms
Management c. Eating Disorder
b. STEM – Science, symptoms
Technology, d. Alcohol Abuse symptoms
Engineering, and
Mathematics
c. HUMMS – Humanities
and Social Science
d. General Academic

Figure 2. The Independent and Dependent Variable of the study

The independent variable or the cause of this study are different Academic
Tracks of the Senior High School Students which are the a. ABM – Accountancy,
Business, and Management, b. STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics, c. HUMMS – Humanities and Social Science and d. General
Academic. The severity of depression scales which are the a. Depressive
symptoms, b.Anxiety symptoms, c. Eating Disorder symptoms and d. Alcohol Abuse
symptoms would serve as the effect and the dependent variable.

Definition of Terms
The following terms used in the study are operationally defined:

Depressive symptoms – symptoms of having a depressed mood or a loss of

interest or pleasure in daily activities. It also includes the social, occupational,
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educational, or other important functioning that must be negatively impacted by the
change in mood.
Anxiety symptoms – symptoms for having excessive worry about a variety of
activities. The worry is experienced as very challenging to control. It is also
accompanied with physical and cognitive symptoms such as edginess or
restlessness, fatigue, difficulty sleeping and irritability.
Eating Disorder symptoms – symptoms such as preoccupation with weight, food,
calories, carbohydrates and dieting. Skipping meals or taking small portion of food at
regular meals and extreme concern with body size and shape. Withdrawal from
usual friends and activities and extreme mood swings are also found to be one of
the symptoms.
Alcohol Abuse symptoms – symptoms such as often intake of alcohol in larger
amounts or over a longer period than was intended. There is also craving or a strong
desire or urge to use alcohol. Alcohol use is continued despite knowledge of having
a persistent and recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have
been caused or exacerbated by alcohol.
Academic Tracks – This track is right for high school students who look forward to
moving to college. In the same way, it will prepare them for college courses from
which they can choose a lot of options. The K to 12 academic tracks, however, aim
to give student ample mastery of skills, learning, and readiness to help them join the
workforce or move on to college. This track prepares students who plan to pursue
college education and comprises four strands:
a) ABM – Accountancy, Business, and Management
b) STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
c) HUMMS – Humanities and Social Science
d) General Academic
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the description of the method of research that will be
used, respondents of the study, the locale, statistical treatment for the data and
procedures that is going to utilize in the study.

Research Design
This study used a descriptive quantitative method in order to know if there is a
significant difference between the severities of depressive symptoms present in the
selected senior high school students under four k to 12 academic tracks which are:
a) ABM – Accountancy, Business, and Management, b) STEM – Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, c) HUMMS – Humanities and Social
Science and d) General Academic. It is quantitative because it measures the
severity of depressive symptoms and it is descriptive for it also aims to know the
factors that contribute for having these symptoms.

Research Locale
The study will be conducted in the Senior High School Department of Sacred
Heart Academy. It is commonly abbreviated as SHA and is a private, non-sectarian
educational institution located in Poblacion, Santa Maria, Bulacan and was founded
in 1963. It is the oldest private education institution in Santa Maria, Bulacan.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study are Grade 12 senior high school students from
Academic Tracks: (a) ABM – Accountancy, Business, and Management, b) STEM –
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, c) HUMMS – Humanities and
Social Science, d) General Academic. They are the students from Sacred Heart
Academy in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
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Sampling Technique
Non-probability sampling was used in the study. The Purposive sampling,
also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling, is a type of non-
probability sampling technique. It is the one that is selected based on the knowledge
of a population and the purpose of the study. The respondents were selected
because of their characteristic. It focuses on sampling techniques where the units
that are investigated are based on the judgment of the researcher. There were
criteria in selecting the respondents and these are the following: a. the respondent
must be a Grade 12 Senior High School Student, b. the respondent must be enrolled
in Sacred Heart Academy, school year 2018 to 2019 and c. the respondent must be
in one of the academic tracks of K to 12 curriculum.

Data Gathering Procedure

A written consent will be taken and signed by the researcher's adviser and
the approval of College Dean addressed to the Dean of Senior High School
Department of Sacred Heart Academy in Sta. Maria, Bulacan to gather data from the
Grade 12 Senior High School students using the PHQ – 9 to measure the
depressive symptoms and the questionnaire made by the researcher to know the
factors that affect the severities of their symptoms.

The researcher has also a written consent addressed to the Dean of Office of
Students Affairs to have a permission to get the official list of the Grade 12 senior
high school students under academic tracks to make sure that all data needed will
be gathered from the sample.

With the criteria set for the respondents, the Grade 12 senior high school
students under k to 12 academic tracks qualified for the study were given the
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purpose of conducting the research. They were requested to give honest responses
and assured that their identity would be kept confidential and information provided
by them will only be used exclusively for the purpose of research work. Each
respondent were given a questionnaire under the supervision of the researcher.
After giving the respondents instructions for the data gathering procedures, they
were asked to answer the questionnaire and will be collected immediately after
procedure.

After the data collection, all the questionnaire forms were carefully scored and
tabulated. Lastly, the researcher statistically interpreted the results to answer the
statement of the problems given.

Research Instrument

The instrument that will be using to measure the severities of depressive

symptoms among Grade 12 senior high school students is the PHQ – 9 test. The
Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ – 9) is a multipurpose instrument for
screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression. It
incorporates DSM – IV depression diagnostic criteria with other leading major
depressive symptoms into a brief self-report tool. This rates the frequency of the
symptoms which factors into the scoring severity index. Question 9 on the PHQ – 9
screens for the presence and duration of suicide ideation. For its clinical utility, it is
brief and useful as well in clinical practice. It is completed by the test taker in
minutes and is rapidly scored by the test administrator. The PHQ – 9 can also be
administered repeatedly, which can reflect improvement or worsening of depression
in response to treatment. The researcher also has a self-made questionnaire to
know the factors that affects the severities of depressive symptoms among the
Grade 12 senior high school students in from the Academic Track. This will be
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evaluated and validated by at least three licensed professional with sufficient skills
and experience in the field of Psychology.

Statistical Treatments

The collected data from the respondents will be classified, tallied, and
tabulated. Results of data gathering will be computed, presented, and interpreted.
The results on the severities of depressive symptoms that will be coming from the
PHQ – 9 test (a. Depressive symptoms, b. Anxiety symptoms, c. Eating
Disorder symptoms, and d. Alcohol Abuse symptoms) will be treated using the
following statistical computations:
*Frequency and Percentage Distribution- A percentage frequency distribution
is a display of data that specifies the percentage of observations that exist for each
data point or grouping of data points.

*Weighted Mean – it is a measurement of central tendency. It represents the

average of a given data. Weighted mean is similar to arithmetic mean or sample
mean. It is calculated when data is given in a different way compared to an
arithmetic mean or sample mean.

*multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to investigate

the differences between gender, infidelity types, and dyadic trust of participants in
terms of their emotional, behavioral, and cognitive jealousy levels.