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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the different readings which will be deemed

important and related to the present study.

Related Literature

These will serve as links between the readers and the studies already

done, tell about aspects that have been already established or concluded by

other authors and also give chances to appreciate the evidences that have

already been collected by previous researches, and projects the current research

work in the proper perspective.

The following are the selected related literatures:

The Formation of Single Parents

Families are one of the essential elements of society. It is a primary one, a

source with whom newborn communicates and mingles. Single-parent families

can be described as families where a parent lives with dependent children,

without a spouse or partner, either alone or in an enormous household. Today

we see all sorts of single-parent families: headed by mothers, fathers, and even

by a grandparent raising their grandchildren. The Filipinos are considered to

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have healthy and tight family relations. Before all others, they placed high regard

and focused specifically on their families. They work all day and do everything

they can to feed their families and care for them.

Today, some 13.9 to 14 million Filipinos are single parents struggling to

support their families and independently raise their children. Some of them are

unidentified numbers as single-parent students in college who tries to pursue and

continue their studies even in difficult challenges. As stated in the National

Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), about three (3) million children live in

single-parent homes in the Philippines. There are children of single parents,

widows, children of refugees, or foreign employees. In the Philippines, the

Filipino families' definition could be expanded to include non-traditional families

while at school, they are the non-traditional students (Garcia, et. al., 2021).

Roles as Parents and as Students

Traditional college students complete their college education during their

“emerging adulthood” years, usually between the ages of 18 and 24. During this

time, college students are facing assignments, experiencing the residence hall

lifestyle, and, ideally, carefree of “adult” responsibilities. Some financial

responsibilities a student faces may include a new laptop for class, course

textbooks and materials, transportation, and perhaps groceries when the dining

halls are closed. Financial responsibilities can be very stressful, and many
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students worry how they will pay for school and their monthly expenses. These

concerns apply to many college students, regardless of their “traditional” college

status. However, among these traditional college students, there is a group of

“nontraditional” students whose financial responsibilities stretch past the average

student (Hayes, 2020).

Single mothers face significant challenges, which cause stress to their

children and affects the greater population around them (Maness and Munoz,

2019). It is difficult to imagine on how single-parent students deal with their

present situation. For a traditional student in college, although there are lots of

challenges they are facing, single-parent students have a unique challenge since

they are not just studying for themselves, but yearning to finish for a job, and

earn not just for the family but to sustain the needs of their children too.

However, various findings suggest that single parents have an enormous

duty because they can bear all the life burdens without any support from a

partner. Single parents are required to play a dual role in complementing each of

a parent’s gender roles. A single mother must play the role of both mother and

father (Febrianto, 2021). Time management is beneficial to both the family and to

college success. Time management will also allow you to spend time with your

family so they are not feeling neglected.

Moreover, we cannot underestimate the challenges faced by these single-

parent students, and the courage and strength required to meet these

challenges. It is possible to successfully perform the balancing acts required of

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single mother students. These women were determined to achieve a better life

for themselves and their children and believed the way to do this was through

education. Their personal determination, perseverance, and commitment

sustained them during the many stressful days and nights they endured, during

those times when they questioned if they were being good parents, and when

hearing discouraging comments from family, friends, or teachers (Buteau, 2007).

Anxiety of Single-parent Students

The number of student parents who have enrolled in college has doubled

over the past decade. And of those 4.3 million students with children, over 3.5

million of them are single parents. Single parents, more than any other group of

college students, face some of the toughest hurdles to earning their degree.

Over 88 percent of student parents work full-time, yet their incomes are at

or below the poverty level. From the high cost of child care to lack of time to

devote to their studies while juggling a full-time job, many of these factors

contribute to the high dropout rate among single parents attending college.

While these individuals are often more motivated to earn their degree and get

better grades than some of their peers, it’s the lack of time and resources that

cause many student parents to drop out.

Single parents deserve to have an equal stability in their pursuit of the

degree. However, many of these students are unaware of some of the programs
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that are available to help them stay in school and graduate college with a degree

that helps them achieve their goals (Nadia, 2020).

Government Benefits / Scholarship Programs for Single Parents

According to Garcia (2021), traditional family and single-parent families are

a basic social unit composed of parents and their children, regarded as groups,

whether they live together. (a) A one or more adults' social unit and the children

they care for. (b) ("Family," n.d.). Filipino family is recognized as the foundation

of the nation by the State. It will, therefore, reinforce its solidarity and actively

promote its overall growth. (The 1987 Ph. Const., art. XV, § 1.).

The State's policy is to establish the family as the nation's foundation,

maintain its unity, and ensure its sustainable development perspective. A

comprehensive system of services for solo parents and their children to be

carried out by different sectors such as Department of Social Welfare and

Development (DSWD), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and other

related government and non-government agencies. "Solo Parents' Welfare Act of

2000."(Section1, R.A. 8972) is an act that grants the solo parents and their

children's rights and privileges, providing appropriates funds and other purposes

(R.A., 8972). Any single parent whose income is below the poverty line set by

the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) at their place of

residence, subject to the assessment of the DSWD worker in the area, shall
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qualify for assistance. However, provided that the benefits referred to Sections 6,

7, and 8 of this Act shall be enjoyed by a solo parent whose income is above the

poverty threshold. (Section 4, R.A. 8972):

There are also Educational Benefits such as Scholarship services for

eligible single parents and their children in basic, tertiary, and technical training

institutions; and Appropriate non-formal education services for single parents and

their children.

Insights Learned from the Related Literatures

Being a single parent is either a choice, decision, or condition that must be

accepted due to the spouse’s passing or other condition. Single parents carried

numerous burdens alone, including earning a living and raising the children

(Fabrianto, 2021). Being a single parent is not easy. Raising your children alone

is a hard task since there is no other half of you to take care of your children, no

one to help you sustain their needs, and no one will be there beside you to plan

for the family. In Philippines, these single parents usually live with their parents,

and usually, their parents and other relatives has to take care of their children

while they are studying. We can see how much difficult it is to stand alone with

the children while earning a degree.

These articles define the solo parents, the common challenges they face,

the possible help that can be given to them to lessen their burden, and the
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benefits they can get since they are considered to be deserving of help by the

government while they are coping with these challenges. Single-student parents

should be prioritized of help, so they can provide the needs of their children and

family.

Related Studies

Financial Problem for Single-parent College Students

According to Stack and Meredith (2017), single parent families are at high

risk of financial hardship which may impact on psychological wellbeing. In their

study, they explored the impact of financial hardship on well-being on 15 single

parents. Participants described food and fuel poverty, and the need to make

sacrifices to ensure that children’s basic needs were met. In some cases,

participants went without food and struggled to pay bills. This exploration of

financial hardship in single parents identified multiple aspects of poverty. Single

parents in this study described making difficult compromises to afford food,

heating, and clothing and often focused their resources on their children.

Participants described attempting to shield their children from poverty through

missing their own meals, and taking on extra work which meant that the

experiential impact of financial stressors were contained by the parent.

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Moreover, single parents already experience that kind of hardships. How

much more being a student at the same time? Their expenses and needs at

school adds to their financial problem as single-parent students in college.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (2017), Single student

mothers are growing in both absolute numbers and as a share of the college

population. They often face significant financial and time-related obstacles that

make it difficult for them to persist to graduation. Investing in programs and

supports that target the needs of single mothers has the potential to improve their

rates of college attainment, and increase earnings, which can lead to a range of

multigenerational benefits.

Yusuf & Al-Majdhoub (2020) said that financial plays an important role in

students’ academic performance. Financial problems are a serious issue that

needs to be addressed as it leads to multiple stages of problems such as health

issues and academic performance. From the result of their study, it is

ascertained that there is a significant relationship between financial problems and

academic performance of p = 0.014 < a 0.05 indicating that the students with

financial problems affect their academic performance.

Time Management for Single-parent College Students

Vyskocil (2018) found that nearly all respondents were forced on some

occasions to choose between attendance at school and family events and being
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present at moments which would ensure optimal outcomes in both categories of

competing identities. Conflict was experienced by respondents when student

mothers were forced to shift into and out of various roles and identities which

made it difficult for student parents to maximize performance in any central area

of personal or professional achievement. No one really informs on how to

manage everything while going to college for the next four years or more.

Study findings revealed key themes that emerged from the data:

participant awareness of constrained and competing time demands; competing

pressures to produce the identities of “good mom” and “good student”; guilt

arising from missed event choices; outcomes of forced choice events; guilt over

lower classroom performance and loss of class standing over missed choice

events; participants’ perspectives of in-class support by teachers or professors;

participants’ views regarding presence or absence of institutional support tailored

to their specific needs as single parent student mothers; participants’ concerns

regarding student debt; and categories of unmet need and support services that

would assist single mothers to degree completion. Student parents’ discursive

narratives indicated internal and external pressure to perform better as students

and parents. A key deficit identified in the narratives of student mothers was their

perceived absence of institutional support which would enable them to achieve

their educational goals and better provide for their families.

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The study of Temblador (2014) focused on a particular group of single

mothers who had similar obligations and responsibilities as other single mothers,

but because of their uniqueness may perhaps have also acquired different sets

of issues and problems to handle. Single mothers, like other weaken, are looking

to their future and the kind of jobs or careers they could have. They are not only

thinking about and seeking a better future for their children but also for

themselves. Some of their aspirations may require academic training and so they

may enter or return to college or graduate programs. These women chose to

take on not only the stressful and time-consuming role of a single parent but they

also chose to enter the temporary world of being a student. Very little is known

about the experience of being a single mother and a student. Because this

particular group is invisible in the literature on single parenting, it is unclear

whether or not they share similar or completely different experiences than other

groups, such as women who work or students in college.

Emotional Stress for Single-parent College Students

The result of the study conducted by Landgraf (2015) showed a trend

between role conflict and retention of single parent students; however, the finding

was not significant. These findings provide valuable information for University

retention policy as well as support services provided by social workers. More

research is needed to further examine the issue of role conflict on student’s

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mental health and postsecondary retention. Previous research reveals that as a

result of role conflict, students experience stress and anxiety.

The study of Williams (2016) focused on understanding the relationships

between stress, coping, and social support among single mothers versus

mothers who are not single. Knowledge regarding how single mothers’ lives are

affected by stress, social support, and coping is important, and such information

can help readers better understand how effectively single mothers raise children

compared with mothers who are not single. An independent samples test

determined that mothers who were not single had higher social support than did

single mothers, whereas single mothers had higher perceived stress than

mothers who were not single. There were no significant differences on measures

of coping. An analysis of covariance revealed no significant difference between

stress and coping strategies among the mothers when social support was held

constant. This study contributes to social change by providing awareness of the

importance of social support to professionals and for single mothers. The

findings of this quantitative study can thus guide single parenting research and

interventions.

Another study from Shenoy, et. al., (2015) found out that single parenting

students face unique challenges that may adversely affect their mental health,

which have not been explored in community college settings. They conducted

secondary analysis to examine difficulties facing single parent community college

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students and the association between single parenting and negative mental

health (depression, self-injury, suicide attempt). Demographic and mental health

data were characterized using univariate descriptive analyses. Bivariate analyses

determined whether single parents differed from other students regarding

negative mental health or traumatic/difficult events. Finances, family and

relationship difficulties disproportionally affected single parents, who reported

nearly twice as many suicide attempts as their counterparts (5.3% vs. 2.7%,

p<0.0001). Single parenting students face a higher prevalence of mental health

stressors than other community college students.

Insights Learned from the Related Studies

The above related studies explain the common challenges mentioned in

this study. It states how financial difficulties can be faced by single-parent

students and how these challenges can be managed. In time management, there

is no easy way in solving it but making plans to make and taking down notes in

every important thing to do and what to prioritize. It just needs time balancing and

coping mechanisms to be utilized in order to balance being a parent and being a

student. There are also stresses can be faced and it is all normal for everyone,

but for single-parent students, it may be dangerous since it can be one of the

reasons for suicide.

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In addition, a key deficit identified in the narratives of student mothers was

their perceived absence of institutional support which would enable them to

achieve their educational goals and better provide for their families (Vyskocil,

2018). It is important for these main challenges to be elaborated and be provided

with ample ways and solution.