Measuring Resiliency… 1

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.0 Introduction

Being resilient means being able to adapt and bounce back when something difficult happens
in people’s lives. Resilient is the ability to once again pick the lives of an individual up after trauma
or painful experience. The levels of resiliency will change and develop throughout life, and at
points, people will find that some are do not cope as well as others, as well as surprising oneself
when people manage a difficult situation. In another sense, resilience is just one of many
psychological tools to implement to get back to feeling normal again. Resilience is important for
a number of reasons; it enables people to develop mechanisms for protection against experiences
which could be overwhelming, resilience helps people to maintain balance in ones lives during
difficult or stressful periods of time, and can also protect from the development of some mental
health difficulties and issues. Resilience enhanced by developing effective coping skills for stress.
Coping skills help the individual to reduce stress levels, so people remain functional. Coping skills
include using meditation, exercise, socialization, and self-care practices to maintain a healthy level
of stress. Levels of resiliency of people will change and develop throughout life, and at points,
people will do not cope as well as others, as well as surprising people’s life when managing a
difficult situation. In another sense, resilience is just one of many psychological tools that people
implement to get back to feeling normal again.

There are different sorts of resilience which people develop and need throughout different
points in one lives. First, inherent resilience this is the natural resilience with which an individual
is born. This natural resilience protects people, and informs how person discover and explore the
world; learn to play, learn and also to take risks. Second, adapted resilience this is usually brought
about through a difficult or challenging experience. Adaptive resilience which needs to be learnt
on the spot, and can give people the ability to manage stresses and pain. The last one is learnt
resilience this type of resilience is built up over time, and people learn to activate it through
difficult experiences from past. People learn to know when to draw on it, and to use it during

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stressful times. It is through this resilience, which people learn, grow and develop mechanisms for
managing, and find ways to draw on strength that people did not know, had in times when people
need it the most.

The Purpose of this Study is to have a broader knowledge about the mental, physical,
emotional, spiritual well-being or state of an individual. It aims to have a visuals or graphs intends
to be more aware and fathomable. Through this study that will provide more knowledge and
information about them such as their status and capacity. And to be able to understand and help
the key-informants to move on with the existing trauma.

The study regarding the measuring the resiliency between first- and last-born child among
senior high school students would situate beneficial to the: First and Last Born Children who
seeks answers on how to move on and cope-up from the struggles that they possibly might
encounter. From this study who provide data about the resiliency between first- and last-born
child, those individual who might have a same situation just like the key-informants can use this
study to develop and construct themselves; second is to the youth that serves as guide and
direction to inform them with their development and growth as an individual; third is to the
parents of the children, serves to help them in the field of planting and guiding their own children
to make them aware for being resilient; This study would be beneficial to the community to help
to end cases such as suicidal, depression and other cases that can ruin the growth of a community.
This study provides awareness to the people in community regarding with being resilient of one
individual; fifth one is to the future researchers to help them understand their resiliency as an
individual. This study aims to make the laity reach down to their development and dig a little
deeper for them to understand the meaning of life and well-being. This study would help future
researchers who would pursue this research, defy the limitations and make new breakthroughs on
this topic.

This study aims to focus on the resiliency between first- and last-born child among senior
high school students. The researchers will work with a minimum of 50 participants and a maximum
of 100 participants to be the sample to represent the whole population from, Our Lady of Fatima
University, Valenzuela Campus. The study encompasses with first- and last born child of the
family of any age to see the difference and the similarities of results in different sectors and field
of the mental capacity of one person.

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The researchers are aware of the sensitivity it might cause the participant meddling with
their profile and information, being process. Participant would be selected regardless of their
gender and socio-economic status to avoid scarcity of participants.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Framework

Toward a Middle-Range Theory of Resilience

Adler defined that the birth order is a strong indicator of personal lifestyle development and
that this lifestyle impacts how an individual cope with life experiences (Khodarahimi & Ogletree,
2011). The last born children tend to be more persistent and have greater self-efficacy, while the
first born children have higher measures of joy. When addressing resilience both joy and self-
efficacy are important. For children who have witnessed violence, parental support was found to
be a strong predictor for high measures of self-reliance. Parental support was also found to predict
higher levels of resiliency scores (O’Donnell et al., 2002)

According to Eckstein et al.,(2010), the first-born participants’ techniques of distracting and

disconnecting from past events could be linked to their affinity for persistence and achievement.
First-born children in this study exhibited characteristics of individuals who have largely recovered
from a traumatic event, but continue to distance themselves from the actual event.

While the last-born child acquired the lowest recovery/resiliency (r/r) score of study participants.
The last-born child admitted actively avoiding activities and people that could trigger traumatizing
memories and emotions. Last born child is likely able to describe their perceptions of an event,
rather than viewing the experience from different perspectives (Recchia & Howe, 2009).

2.2 Variable Discussion

According to Legault, Anawati, & Flynn, (2006), some individuals are able to recover more
easily after experiencing a traumatic event, and others have significantly more difficulty working
through the trauma. Resilience has come to describe a person having a good track record of positive
adaptation in the face of stress or disruptive change (Werner and Smith 1992).

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2.2.1 Resiliency

Psychologists have long studied these issues and have come up with a label you may be familiar
with resilience. When faced with a tragedy, natural disaster, health concern, relationship, work, or
school problem, resilience is how well a person can adapt to the events in their life. A person with
good resilience has the ability to bounce back more quickly and with less stress than someone
whose resilience is less developed.

Building better resilience takes time, effort, commitment, and focus. Resilience is a process
that will take months to learn and master. Resilience is a skill that you can readily enhance with
patience and training. Everybody has resilience. It is just a question of how much and how well
you put it to good use in your life. Resilience is just means that they have found a pretty good way
of dealing with it more quickly than others.

Everyone can learn to increase their resilience abilities. Like any human skill, learning greater
resilience is something that you can do at any age, from any background, no matter your education
or family relationships. All you need to do in order to increase your resilience is have the
willingness to do so. And then seek out ways of learning more about resilience, either from search
engines or with the help of a trained behavior specialist, like a psychologist.

2.2.2 First and Last Born Child

First Born Child

First borns are often more motivated to achieve than later borns. A greater percentage of first
borns end up in the professions such as medicine and law. They go for jobs where determination,
strong powers of concentration and discipline are valued. First borns are born into a pressured yet
treasured position. They are usually the objects of great delight in a family they are the first. Parents
and grandparents often overdo everything with first borns. There is an air of expectancy even
before their birth. They are the center of attention, which is an obvious plus if you are a first-born
child.

The flipside to this adulation is that first borns are coached, prodded and pushed to perform.
The expectations are high for first borns, particularly first-born boys, so pressure is something they

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know all about. It is no coincidence that anecdotal evidence suggested that first born males tend to
be lower risk-takers as learners than girls, or those in other birth positions. First-born boys fear
failure so they often steer away from areas where they cannot excel. Interestingly, some first borns
confuse excellence with perfectionism and would not try unless they can do the perfect job. These
kids drive their parents and teachers nuts as they just would not move out of their comfort zones
to take a few risks and even mess up.

Last Born Child

Youngest children in the family are typically charmers and manipulators. They love to get their
own way and they invariably do. They are in the fortunate position of having a sibling break their
parents in for them and they don’t have the pressures of the first born. Their birth is not the big
event as was the arrival of the first born. Youngest are often babied, spoiled, affectionate, outgoing
and uncomplicated. The pressure is off the last borns in terms of having to meet their parents’ high
expectations so they are more likely to achieve in their own ways. Creative, artistic pursuits tend
to be filled with last born children, whereas firstborns are more likely to end up in positions of
leadership. One of the traits many last borns share is persistence. They learn when they are young
that if they persist with what they want they will outlast their siblings and wear their parents down
eventually. Persistence is a characteristic that pays off for this group.
Last borns tend to be more impetuous they act now and worry about the repercussions later.
The positive is that they are more likely to stretch themselves and try new experiences than their
siblings. The negative aspect for boys is that their tendency to jump first and think later on can be
downright dangerous. Youngest born girls can often be babied and have their parents jumping
through hoops to satisfy them.
Last borns can appear a little self-centered, which is probably due to the fact that they tend to
do less at home to help others. There are bigger, more capable siblings at home to take all the
responsibilities so youngest children can easily grow up with an ‘I’m here to be served’ attitude
(Grose, 2017). It is important to give youngest borns plenty of opportunities to help around the
home.

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2.2.3 Statement of the Problem

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

Q1. What is the demographic profile of the participants in terms of:

a) Sex
b) Age
c) Experience

Q2. What is the Mean and standard deviation of the participants in terms of:

a) Resiliency level
b) Birth Order

2.2.4 Hypothesis

There are four research hypothesis for the study which include the following:

1. There is a difference and similarities of results in different sectors and field of mental capacity
of one person.

2. There is a difference in mental capabilities between first and last born child.

3. There is a high percentage that the first born child is more resilient than the last born child.

4. The study shows that when a child has a lot of burden worst problem within their own, the
resiliency of the child is getting slower

Research Question # 1. Who most likely can cope with faster from the past experiences?

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2.3 Research Paradigm

BASIS INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

1. Who most 1. Searching and 1. Be able to

likely can cope finding articles show the results
up faster from and citations of those who
Measuring the the past using internet. have higher
Resiliency experiences? capability to
2. Consulting come up with
Between First 2. Who have the teacher that
and Last-born better solutions
better critical has something or ways when
Child Among
thinking when to do with the problem occurs.
Senior High talking about topic
School problems or 2. For the results
Students. when solving a 3. Conducting a from the said
survey study to be able
problem.
questionnaire. to help the next
3. How do they
students.
handle their
problems? do 3. To help in
they take it as broadening or
negatively or enhancing the
positively? knowledge of
students when it
comes to
handling
problems and on
how to accept it.

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3.0 Methodology
3.1 Research Design
A quantitative study was chosen to determine the relationship between first and last born child
among senior high school students of Our Lady of Fatima University. It focuses on gathering
numerical data and generalizing it across to senior high school students to explain a particular
phenomenon. Descriptive research is a study of status and is widely used, its value is based on the
premise that problems can be solved and practices improved through observation, analysis, and
description.
3.2 Research Locale
For the research locale, the setting of this study will be conducted on Our Lady of Fatima
University in Valenzuela City, it’s located along the Mc Arthur Highway in Marulas. Since the
researchers studying in chosen school it would be easy for them to conduct the study and get the
information that the researcher will be needing without any hassle.
3.3 Population and Sampling
Systematic Random Sampling are used in this study. This type of probability sampling aims
to set the desired sample (n) then the population (N) known/estimated is divided to established or
get the sampling interval width (k). The advantage of probability sampling is that sampling error
can be calculated. In systematic random sampling, every individual in the population have equal
chance of being selected as a subject for the research. This method guarantees that the selection
process is completely randomized and without bias, (Dr. Maheshwari, 2017). The respondents in
this study will be the senior high school students of Our Lady of Fatima University who are first
and last born child of their family.
3.4 Research Ethics
The key informants were found by the researchers for the information needed for this study.
The approval letter served as the request for permission for gathering information from the
respondents. The researchers created the consent letters needed to conduct the research. With the
used of surveys, the researchers advanced to the definite data gathering process and knew the
percentage that the researchers wanted to know.
3.5 Research Instruments
Quantitative survey questions are defined as objective questions used to gain detailed insights
from chosen respondents in senior high school students of Our Lady of Fatima University. The

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answers received for these quantitative survey questions are being analyzed by the researchers. These
questions form the core of a survey and are used to gather numerical data to determine statistical
results.
Survey research is defined as the collection of information from a sample of individuals through
their responses to questions (Check & Schutt, 2012). This type of research allows for a variety of
methods to recruit participants, collect data, and utilize various methods of instrumentation. Survey
research can use quantitative research strategies, qualitative research strategies, or both strategies.
As it is often used to describe and explore human behavior, surveys are therefore frequently used in
social and psychological research (Singleton & Straits, 2009).
3. Data Collection
The researchers looked for their respondents in their chosen research locale which is in
Valenzuela City, looking for 50-100 respondents. After finding for the key informants, the
researchers disseminate the survey questionnaires as the datum will be gathered as the next step.
The researchers sorted out the key informants according to the criteria and qualifications given.
3.7 Statistical Treatment
The Researchers used “percentage technique” for measuring and calculating data for this
study. “Percentage technique” use for the assumption of outcome for the particular percentage of
the inputs that the respondents will provide for the specific questions in the study. According to
John Paul Nazareno, the formula that used is %= F/Nx100.

where:
F= number of the answers
%= percentage
N= number of the respondents

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