ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of
Adolescence
Journal of Adolescence 28 (2005) 299–316
www.elsevier.com/locate/jado

Family dynamics, gender differences and educational

attainment in Filipino adolescents
Michelle J. Hindin
Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N,
Wolfe Street, E4150, Baltimore, MD 21205-2179, USA

Abstract

The relationship between parenting style, marital relationships and subsequent educational attainment is
explored among 1428 Filipino adolescents attending school in 1994 and 1096 attending school in 1999.
Girls in households where their fathers physically abused their mothers were significantly less likely to
complete primary school, and girls who reported parental arguments completed fewer grades. In contrast,
girls in households where parents made decisions jointly were more likely to finish secondary school and
attain more grades. Boys attained more education if they reported being close to their mothers. Boys with
authoritative mothers attained more grades and were more likely to complete secondary school as
compared to boys with neglectful mothers. In this context, marital relationships and parent–child
relationships are important for understanding adolescent educational attainment.
r 2005 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.

Introduction

Schooling decisions in adolescence affect other decisions such as those regarding marriage,
fertility, occupational success and labour force participation. Household structure and parental
support have been cited as key factors in the schooling decisions of American adolescents (Astone
& Mclanahan, 1991) though longitudinal data is needed to sort out some of the pathways of

Tel.: +1 410 502 6038; fax: +1 410 955 2303.

E-mail address: mhindin@jhsph.edu (M.J. Hindin).

0140-1971/$30.00 r 2005 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All
rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2004.12.003
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influence. Marital conflict has also been shown to be related to child-well-being, however, with the
high rates of divorce in many nations in the developed world, separating the effects of poor family
processes and other aspects of the divorce that often accompany them, e.g. residential moves and
parental absence, on children’s well-being has been extremely difficult (Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale,
& Mcrae, 1998).
Parents are a source of support for young people, both emotionally and financially. Studies
show that the parent–child relationships are associated with academic achievement, and, in
particular, that children of authoritarian parents do more poorly than those children with
authoritative parents (Amato & Keith, 1991; Aunola, Stattin, & Nurmi, 2000; Glasgow,
Dornbusch, Troyer, Steinberg, & Ritter, 1997; Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling,
1992). At the same time, conflict can have a negative impact on children in a range of domains
from mental health to academic achievement (Amato & Sobolewski, 2001; Wojtkiewicz, 1993) as
well as future intimate relationships (Amato, 2001).

Family processes and school achievement

Parenting
Proponents of a number of perspectives in psychology explain why the parent–child
relationship is influential for children’s well-being. The most relevant perspective for this
discussion comes from Baumrind’s work on parenting styles. Baumrind (1991) developed four
prototypes of parenting style: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and rejecting-neglectful.
Authoritarian parents ‘‘attempt to shape, control, and evaluate the behaviour and attitudes of
their children’’ (1991, p. 127) and do not encourage initiative and negotiation by their children. In
contrast, authoritative parents monitor their children closely but are loving, supportive,
committed, and foster initiative and negotiation (1991, p. 128). Permissive parents are ‘‘warm
and autonomy-granting’’ but monitor their children very little. Rejecting-neglectful parents are
those that are ‘‘neither responsive nor demanding’’ (1991, p. 129). Steinberg and Silk (2002)
suggest that the gender of the child is not strongly related to the type of parent–child relationship.
The described models of parenting style have been well-documented in the child psychology
literature and are readily testable.
Darling and Steinberg (1993) have elaborated on the notion of parenting style and elucidated
the concepts of parenting practices. They suggest that parenting style creates ‘‘an emotional
climate’’ in which the parent’s behaviours are expressed. In contrast, parenting practices are
domain-specific and depend on the specific developmental outcome of interest. For example,
parenting practices would include supervision of homework or asking about a child’s friends. The
distinction between parenting styles and parenting practices is important, according to Steinberg
and Silk (2002), because there is some evidence that the same parenting practice may have very
different outcomes when implemented with one style than when implemented with another. Given
the limited availability of data, this paper will focus on measures related to parenting style rather
than parenting practices.

Parenting context
Baumrind’s theory has been criticized for not looking at the reciprocal nature of parent–child
interactions and not taking differing needs of the children into account by suggesting that the level
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of parental involvement needs to vary by the child’s developmental level (Maccoby & Martin,
1983). In addition, as Kohn (1989) suggests, the relationship between parental values and
practices and children’s bahaviour is preceded by the conditions under which the parents live (i.e.,
social context). In the US literature, recent evidence suggests that both the prevalence of styles as
well as the outcomes vary by ethnic group (Steinberg and Silk, 2002; Smetana, 2000). Very little
work has been done to determine whether the concept of parenting style and parental conflict
have any significance in settings outside the United States or Europe (see McBride-Chang &
Chang, 1998 for an example from Hong Kong), and to date, few, if any studies have been
conducted using these concepts in the developing world.

Parenting and School Outcomes

Parenting style is important for a range of outcomes from socialization (Maccoby and Martin,
1983) and bahaviour problems (Pettit, Laird, Dodge, Bates, & Criss, 2001) to intellectual
development (Guo & Harris, 2000). In their study of San Francisco area adolescents, Dornbusch,
Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, and Fraleigh (1987) find that adolescents who reported that their
parents were authoritative had higher grades, while adolescents from permissive or authoritarian
parents had lower grades. Associations with authoritative parenting, while positive, were not very
strong. While the authors find gender differences in terms of parenting style with fewer girls
reporting authoritarian parents, the patterns of relationships between parenting styles and grades
were consistent across gender, ethnic, age and family structure. Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch
and Darling (1992) find that adolescents from authoritative parents report better school
performance. In a meta-analysis of 63 studies on the relationship between fathers and children
and child outcomes, Amato and Gilbreth (1999) show that feelings of closeness and authoritative
parenting styles are positively related to children’s academic achievement. Aunola et al. (2000)
show that parenting styles are related to school achievement strategies. Amato and Booth (1997)
suggest that socioeconomic conditions of the household are mediated through parental support
and control. These studies do not explore the potential gender differences in the association
between parenting style and schooling outcomes. In addition, since most studies on the
relationship between parenting and school outcomes come from the West, the focus is on school
achievement (grades and performance) rather than attainment (number of school grades
completed), which is the focus of this study.

Marital conflict
Parental conflict has been implicated in poorer outcomes for children in a number of studies.
While there is an extensive literature on divorce and children’s outcomes, few studies emphasize
the impact of conflict (in the absence of divorce) and children’s outcomes. Some studies show that
parental conflict may be a more important predictor of adverse outcomes in children than either
divorce or parental separation (Vandewater & Lansford, 1998; Amato & Keith, 1991; Kelly,
2000). In terms of impact on schooling, Cherlin et al. (1991) found that children of divorced
parents have poorer achievement test scores. When taking pre-divorce conditions into account,
however, the difference in test scores between children whose parents divorced as compared to
children whose parents remained together was substantially reduced. Musick and Bumpass (1999)
provide additional evidence of how conflict affects children—children of parents in high conflict
relationships are more than two and half times more likely to fail to complete high school than
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those children who are in households where the conflict is low. These studies, however, are limited
to settings where divorce is common so it is often difficult to sort out the effects of divorce from
the effects of marital conflict.
Another important area to consider is whether the adolescent’s point of view about the parental
relationship and potential conflict is important. According to Davies and Cummings (1994),
children respond to parental conflict based on the implications of the conflict for their parents’
relationship as well as the implications for themselves. Fincham (1998), in a recent review suggests
that children’s perspectives on marital relations are important—particularly for marital conflict.
Harold, Fincham, Osborne, and Conger (1997) find that both marital conflict and parent–child
relations interact to influence child adjustment. Gender was significant for child adjustment and
the authors suggest that considering each parent’s bahaviour during conflict and the child’s
individual relationship to each parent may be critical.

Setting

Parenting and adolescence in the Philippines

Medina (2001) describes child-rearing practices in the Philippines as ‘‘nurturant, affectionate,
indulgent and supportive’’ (p. 226). There is a tendency, according to Medina (2001) to be
overprotective, while discipline becomes more commonplace as the child ages. Parents are more
strict when they perceive that the child’s health or safety is at risk, while they are more permissive
when children are close by. This suggests that parents are more likely to be permissive and
authoritative.
The description of adolescence in the Philippines sounds strikingly similar in many respects to
the standard gendered expectations of American adolescents. According to Medina (2001), boys
are generally accorded more freedoms and can go out and come home late while girls are more
‘‘restricted and protected.’’ However, unlike the stereotypical description of adolescence in the
US, Medina (2001) asserts that ‘‘adolescence among Filipinos is generally not a turbulent period
characterized by tension, rebellion and confusion similar to the West,’’ though youth face more
difficulties in the urban areas. Gender norms are not as fixed when it comes to role specialization
as they are in many other cultures. While Maria (2002) points out that tasks are allocated
generally by which ones will assist youth in their future adult roles, there is a crossover of
responsibilities, and young women are given a major role in augmenting family income.

Transitions in Cebu
Cebu is the second largest city in the Philippines, and is located in the central part of the
archipelago. It has undergone rapid urbanization with the accompanying shift from a more
agricultural economy to one dominated by factory and technological jobs. These transformations
mean that as the adolescents in our sample terminate school and enter the workforce, their
opportunities will be quite different from those of their parents. Perhaps these changes are why
parents find that children are ‘‘no longer as obedient and submissive,’’ while children find that
parents are ‘‘very unreasonable and strict’’ (Medina, 2001).
With modernization and increasing urbanization, Filipino families are becoming more nuclear
and youth are spending less time with the families and gaining more autonomy. At the same time,
the proportion of married older youth living with parents is noticeably rising, indicating that the
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temporary living arrangement is resorted to when economic independence is not possible (Maria,
2002). All of the changes in living arrangements and changes in family structure exist in a context
where there is no civil divorce.

Education in the Philippines

The education system in the Philippines consists of primary school (1st–6th grades) and
secondary school (1st year–4th years). Compared to other Southeast Asian Nations, the
Philippines have some of the highest enrollment rates in the region; however, significant numbers
of youth do not remain in school (Maria, 2002). According to the 1999 national Multiple
Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the dropout rates by age for boys and girls are different. By age
13, 15.5% of boys are not in school compared to 8.6% of girls. This difference by gender narrows
at older ages. By age 17, 44.9% of 17-year-old boys and 42.2% of 17-year-old girls were not in
school (Personal Communication, Benedicta A. Yabut, Philippine Census Bureau, November 11,
2001). In comparison, the dropout rate by age 17 is substantially lower in the US at about 7%
overall for both boys and girls (US Census Bureau, 2000). While there are fewer years to primary
and secondary education in the Philippines as compared to the US (total of 10 versus 12 years),
Filipino youth often enter school later and repeat more grades than American youth.
Maria (2002) suggests that out-of-school youth are searching for employment or staying home
to help in household tasks. Youth drop out of school for a variety of reasons including school-
related factors such as overcrowding or inadequate facilities, as well as non-school related factors
such as poverty (requiring adolescents to work) and poor health. While school dropout may be an
economic necessity for adolescents living in impoverished households, the labour market
conditions make locating a job difficult. Current estimates suggest that among young adults in the
labour force, age 15–24 years, 23% of females and 17% of males are unemployed (United Nations
Development Programme, 2003). Surprisingly, some of the highest rates of unemployed youth are
among those that have attended post-secondary schooling, since there are few labour market
opportunities for well-educated youth (Maria, 2002). While adolescents living at home may feel
working is an economic necessity, current data indicated economic prospects are quite limited.
Based on the literature on parenting style, marital conflict and school achievement, the aim of
this paper is to explore these issues in a developing country context. This paper uses data from a
birth cohort of Filipino adolescents in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. These
data allow for longitudinal examination of the effects of family dynamics on children’s
educational attainment in a setting where most children grow up in a two-parent household.
Based on the literature regarding family process and school achievement, there is strong
justification to believe that parenting style and marital conflict will be important for
understanding school attainment in the Philippines. In addition, given the gender norms in the
Philippines, as well as the differences in both educational attainment and employment
opportunities by gender, there is a justification for exploring the pathways of boys and girls
separately. With a large cohort of adolescents, gender differences can be tested by looking at boys
and girls separately and considering the influences of both mothers and fathers. In addition, where
appropriate, gender interactions are considered to determine whether boys and girls are
significantly different from one another. Through the examination of maternal and paternal
relationships with sons and daughters, additional evidence will be provided as to whether there are
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gender differences in parenting, and whether these differences affect children’s educational
outcomes.

Research questions methods

I use the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) to explore the following
research questions:

Will parenting style be related to adolescent educational attainment in the Philippines?

Will these educational consequences of parenting styles differ by gender of the parent?

Will marital conflict be related educational attainment?

Will the observed associations differ by gender of the adolescent?
Data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) are used in this
study. These data include a sample of women who were followed beginning in 1983, based on a
random sample of 33 communities (barangays) in Metro Cebu to locate all pregnant women. A
baseline sample was conducted on 3327 women during pregnancy, and follow-up surveys
(1984–1986, 1991, 1994, 1999 and 2002) were conducted on these women and the 3080 non-twin
live births from their pregnancies. The 1994 survey included 2214 of the children and 2483 of the
mothers. The 1999 survey included 2089 adolescents and 2202 mothers and the 2002 survey
included 2051 adolescents and 2113 mothers. This paper focuses on the data collection from
mothers and their children in 1994, 1999 and 2002, and uses the 1994 survey as a baseline. Of the
non-twinned children in 1994 (n ¼ 2186), 88% were still in school and living with married parents
(n ¼ 1917), 83% of these (n ¼ 1583) had non-missing data on their parents’ marriages or their
father’s characteristics, and 90% attended both follow-up surveys. The analysis includes
adolescents who appeared in all three rounds, were in school and had complete information at the
time of the 1994 data collection (n ¼ 1428), or were in school and had complete information in the
1999 round of data collection (n ¼ 1096).

Dependent variables

In 2002, the original sample of children was contacted and a complete retrospective educational
history was obtained in addition to the questions normally included on the CLHNS. This
educational history, when adolescents were 18 years old, provided information on current
enrollment and last grade completed in school for those who had already terminated schooling.
From these data, three variables were created: completed primary school by 2002, completed
secondary school by 2002, and number of grades completed or current grade in 2002. Therefore,
there are two dichotomous variables (completed primary and completed secondary school) and
one continuous variable (number of grades completed or current grade number). The analysis
of completed primary school by 2002 uses characteristic from the 1994 survey to predict
subsequent completion of primary school among adolescents enrolled in school in 1994. For those
adolescents still enrolled in primary school in 2002, they are considered not having completed
primary school.
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Table 1
Characteristics of the study population of adolescents still in school in 1994 and 1999a

1999 (n ¼ 1428) 1994 (n ¼ 1096)

Characteristics Survey year x̄ S.D. Range x̄ S.D. Range

Adolescent characteristics 1994, 1999

Male (%) 50.1 44.3
Age (years) 11.5 0.4 10.6–12.7 15.0 0.7 14–16
Last grade completed 4.5 1.0 1–6 8.5 1.1 3–11
Parental characteristics
Father’s education (years) 1994 7.3 3.5 0–18 7.7 3.5 0–18
Mother’s education (years) 7.0 3.4 0–18 7.4 3.4 0–18
Household characteristics 1994, 1999
Household wealth (items)b 4.8 3.2 0–12 5.3 3.3 0–15
Income (loge scale, pesos) 6.0 0.7 1.6–9.3 8.0 0.6 4.1–10.7
People in household (#) 6.9 1.8 3–10 6.9 2.2 3–19
Urban residence (%) 73.0 74.4
Marital relationship
Household decisions 1994
Joint final say (#) 3.6 1.8 0–6 3.6 1.8 0–6
Wife reported abuse (%) 11.9 11.6
Parents argue (%) 1999 Not measured 81.0
Parent–child relationship 1999 Not measured
Father is strict (%) 30.6
Mother is strict (%) 24.6
Father is close (%) 70.9
Mother is close (%) 85.6
Mother reports being close (%) 94.2
a
Includes only those eligible for multivariate analyses.
b
There are 12 items in the 1994 scale and 15 items in the 1999 scale.

This analysis controls for grade in 1994 to focus on academic progress after the survey. The
analysis of completion of secondary school is conducted with all adolescents in school in 1999 and
considers both 1994 and 1999 characteristics. Again, those adolescents still in secondary school
are included in the analysis and considered not having completed secondary school. This analysis
controls for grade in 1999. The analysis of total number of grades completed by 2002 (by age 18;
see Table 1) includes all adolescents in school in 1999 and considers both 1994 and 1999
characteristics. The number of grades for primary school is six (1–6) and the number of grades for
secondary school, four (8–11). This means that completion of secondary school translates to
completing 10 school grades. Students currently enrolled are considered to be in the current grade.
For students who reported not being in school in 2002, they are given credit for the last grade
attended. This analysis plan allows for a longitudinal examination of educational attainment with
baseline data collection in 1994 and 1999 and follow-up through 2002.
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Independent variables

Parental characteristics
The key variables used are continuous measures of mother’s and father’s educational status.
Other demographic variables including the mother’s and father’s age and employment status were
explored using one-way analysis of variance and cross-tabulations, but found not to be important
or significant factors for school dropout, and were therefore excluded from the final multivariable
models presented. Mother’s and father’s educational attainment did not change substantially
between surveys so the 1994 measures are used.

Household characteristics
Household wealth was represented as the mean number of selected items in the households
(black and white television, colour television, VCR, refrigerator, electric fan, bicycle, living room
set, air conditioner, iron, bed, bed with a mattress, and whether or not the house had an electrical
connection) (12 items) (Chronbach’s a ¼ 0:85). The scale for 1999 (15 items) also includes cable
television, air conditioning, and a telephone (Chronbach’s 8 ¼ 0:82). Income was measured on an
annual basis, in pesos. Given the highly skewed nature of the income variable, it was log-
transformed for these analyses. The number of people currently residing in the household was
used as a measure of potential conflict for resources with more densely populated households
likely having fewer resources per person. Residence is a dichotomous variable with urban status
being the comparison group.

Marital relationship
The degree of conflict between the married parents of the adolescents is based on both the
adolescents’ point of view as well as evidence from the mothers. The adolescents were asked
whether they observed conflict between their parents, using the question, ‘‘Do your parents ever
quarrel?’’ In the 1994 CLHNS, the mothers were asked ‘‘When your husband gets angry, does he
physically hurt you?’’ Both the measure of quarreling and the measure of domestic violence are
used as dichotomous variables in the analyses.
A less standard measure of the marital relationship concerns household decision-making. It is
generally accepted that in the Philippines, for most domains in marriage, decisions are made
jointly (Medina, 2001; Alcantara, 1994; David, 1994). When either husbands or wives have the
final say in decisions, it is a measure of discord or conflict. In a study using the CLHNS, unequal
say in household decisions is associated with a greater likelihood of reporting domestic violence in
the mothers of the adolescents while joint decision-making is protective (Hindin & Adair, 2002).
For each domain, women were asked (1) ‘‘Do you consult with someone when you have to decide
on this matter? If yes, who do you consult?’’ (2) ‘‘Whose will prevails in this matter?’’ A similar set
of indices as those developed by Hindin and Adair (2002) are used. The six items included in this
index are major purchases, buying or selling land, say over the wife working outside the home,
whether the wife can travel outside Cebu, use of family planning, and method choice for family
planning. For each decision, a dichotomous variable was created representing whether the
decision was made jointly. These dichotomous variables were summed to form an index ranging
from zero decisions where the final say was made jointly to six decisions where the final say was
made jointly (Chronbach’s 8 ¼ 0:76). If respondents were missing on any one question, they were
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coded as missing for the index. While these indices are not a standard measure of marital harmony
in the US literature, autonomy, decision-making, and gender norms regarding the role of women
and their status is increasingly recognized as a potential explanatory factor for health outcomes in
the developing country literature. Around the world, there have been efforts to promote women’s
empowerment as a key aspect to improving both women’s status in society and women’s health
and well-being. However, some studies find that women with significantly more autonomy or
status than their partners are more likely to experience negative health outcomes such as increased
domestic violence whereas more equitable relationships are more likely to be protective (see
Koenig, Ahmed, Hossain, & Khorshed Alam Mozumder, 2003; Hindin and Adair, 2002; Hindin,
2003; Jewkes, 2002; Jewkes, Levin, & Penn-Kekana, 2002). The data for this study shows that
these measures of conflict are relatively uncorrelated (parents argue and domestic violence r ¼
0:10; parents argue and decisions are made jointly r ¼ 0:02; and domestic violence and decisions
are made jointly r ¼ 0:15).

Parent–child relationship
There are four questions from the 1999 survey that are used as measures of parent–child
relationship. Each respondent was asked ‘‘Do you think your mother is strict?’’ and ‘‘Do you
think your father is strict?’’ Those questions were coded simply as yes or no. In addition, the
adolescents were asked ‘‘How close do you think you are to your mother?’’ and ‘‘How close do
you think you are to your father? The respondents’ options were close or not close. These four
questions are analysed as approximations to Baumrind’s (1991) parenting styles of authoritative
(strict and close), authoritarian (strict, not close), permissive (not strict, close), and neglectful (not
strict, not close). To create these variables, the original dichotomous variables of strict and close
are used. For example, respondents are considered to have authoritative mothers if they report
that their mothers are both strict and close. This approximation of Baumrind’s categories is used
in Fig. 2. In addition, in 1999, mothers were asked whether they were ‘‘close’’ to their son or
daughter. Since these data were not collected with the express purpose of recreating existing
indices, the measures are minimally compared to indices often used to look at parenting style.

Analytic techniques
The primary analyses are done separately for boys and girls using stratified models. All tables
are presented with boys and girls separately. However, in order to see if there is a significant
difference by gender, a combined model is used with a gender interaction term. For the models
that consider primary and secondary school completion, logistic regression is used. Marital
relationship variables were primarily collected during the 1994 survey, while parenting style
variables were primarily collected in the 1999 survey. First, models which include measures
available in 1994 are used to predict primary school completion following the 1994 survey through
the 2002 survey. In these models, the 1994 household characteristics are used. To predict
secondary school completion, logistic regression models which include characteristics available
only in the 1999 survey (parenting style and adolescent-reported parental arguments) are used, in
addition to those characteristics available from 1994, to predict secondary education completion
by 2002. In these models, the 1999 household characteristics are used.
The third analysis uses linear regression to predict number of grades completed or current grade
by the 2002 survey. Only those adolescents enrolled in 1999 are included in this analysis since
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school dropout before 1999 could lead to changes in parent–child relationships, a key set of
independent variables. Household characteristics from 1999 are used in these analyses.

Results

Table 1 describes the data based on those who were in school during the 1994 survey and those
still in school during the 1999 survey. These data show how the characteristics of the sample
change across the two time periods. Paired t-tests and oneway analysis of variance were used to
determine statistical significance. Because more boys dropped out of school before the 1999
survey, the percent male declined from 50% in 1994 to 45% in 1999. In the 1994 survey,
adolescents had completed an average of 4.5 years of school and in 1999 they had completed 9.4
years of school. By the 2002 survey, among those still in school in 1994, 94% had completed
primary school, among those who were enrolled in 1999, 75% of the adolescents completed
secondary school. The mean age of adolescents was 11.5 years in 1994, 15.0 years in 1999 and 18.1
years in 2002.
In comparing the characteristics of the parents and households between those in the sample in
1994 and those in the sample in 1999, urban adolescents, and those with parents with more years
of education and more income remain in the sample significantly longer. In terms of marital
relationship, the parental household was quite similar in the two time periods. Of the adolescents
in school in 1994, 12% had mothers who reported domestic abuse in 1994, and this proportion
was the same among adolescents still in school in 1999. Since the questions about parental
arguments and the parent–child relationship questions are only included in the 1999 survey, there
are no comparisons to be made in these measures over time.

Completed grades and current enrollment

Fig. 1 shows the last grade completed, and last grade enrolled in but not completed for
adolescents not in school, and the current grade enrolled in by sex, as of the 2002 survey. The first
set of bars for every grade represents the boys and the second set of bars for every grade represents
the girls. By sex, the proportion who completed and terminated school at that grade is presented
with the bottom bar, the middle bar represents those who terminated school without completing
the grade, and the top bar represents those currently enrolled in that grade. Few adolescents
reported terminating their education in primary school (4% of boys and 2.5% of girls). A higher
percentage of boys than girls terminate their education after the first year of secondary school,
with the excess due to leaving school without completing that grade. In addition, boys are more
likely to still be enrolled (at age 18) in secondary school than girls. A greater proportion of girls
have enrolled in post-secondary school (years 1–3) and a similar proportion of boys and girls
terminate post-secondary school without completion. In general, girls stay in school longer, are
more likely to have graduated from secondary school, and enroll in post-secondary schooling.

Predicting school completion

Table 2 shows the relationship between completing primary school or secondary school
after the 1994 survey by parental characteristics, household characteristics, and the marital
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50%
Last Grade:
45%
40% Currently Enrolled

35% Incomplete
Completed
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Primary Secondary Post-Secondary
Last Grade Attended

Fig. 1. Boys’ (B) and Girls’ (G) educational attainment by 2002 (age 18) among adolescents enrolled in school in 1994.
Note: Attainment is divided into completed grade and terminated school, grade incomplete and terminated school, and
grade currently enrolled in.

relationship. Most adolescents (94%) have completed primary school by the 2002 survey—not
surprisingly, few characteristics predict primary school completion since there is little varia-
tion in completion. After adjustment for current grade in 1994, for each additional year of
education her father has, girls are 1.28 times more likely to complete primary school. If the
mothers of the girls reported physical abuse by their husbands in 1994, the girls are significantly
less likely (OR ¼ 0.19) to finish primary school. The only characteristic that significantly predicts
adolescent boys finishing primary school is higher household wealth (OR ¼ 1.24). A gender
interaction analysis (based on combined models with both boys and girls) reveals that the
difference in the coefficients for wife abuse between boys and girls is significantly different (data
not shown).
In terms of girls completing secondary school, again father’s higher education predicts finishing
secondary school (OR ¼ 1.16). Urban residence is inversely related to both girls and boys
finishing secondary school (OR ¼ 0.27 for girls and OR ¼ 0.42 for boys), though the relationship
is of greater magnitude for girls. The 1994 index of joint decision-making significantly predicts
finishing high school with each additional decision made jointly increasing the probability of the
girls finishing high school (OR ¼ 1.17 per decision). Among boys, aside from urban residence
(OR ¼ 0.42), there are no other significant predictors of finishing high school at the po0:05 level.
However, having a father who is strict is associated with a lower likelihood of completing school
(OR ¼ 0.46, p ¼ 0:06) and having a mother who is close is associated with an increased
probability of finishing high school (OR ¼ 2.71, p ¼ 0:07).

Factors predicting educational attainment by 2002

Table 3 presents the beta coefficients from linear regression models with number of grades
completed or current grade as the outcome for those adolescents still in school in the 1999 survey.
Among girls, there are several parental and household characteristics that predict grade attained
or current grade. For each increase in grade level that the father completed, girls complete 0.05
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Table 2
Odds ratios (ORs) of completing primary and secondary school by 2002 predicted by characteristics of the parental
household, marital relationship and parent–child relationship

Primary schoola Secondary schoolb

Girls Boys Girls Boys

OR OR OR OR

Parental characteristics (1994)

Father’s education (years) 1.28* 1.03–1.12 1.16** 0.99
Mother’s education (years) 0.98 1.24** 0.92 0.95
Household characteristics (1994) 0.68–0.83
Household wealth (items) 1.19 1.03 —
Income (log scale) 0.53 —
Urban residence 1.64 —
Household size (number) 1.14 — —
Household characteristics (1999) —
Household wealth (items) — — 1.03 1.01
Income (Loge scale) — 1.11 1.13
Urban residence — 0.27*** 0.42*
Household size (number) — 1.09 1.06
Marital relationship (1994)
Household decisions
Decisions made jointly (0–6) 0.89 1.03 1.17* 1.01
Wife abused 0.19** 0.80 0.79 1.07
Marital relationship (1999)
Parents ever argue — — 0.79 1.09
Parent-child relationship (1999)
Father is strict — — 0.83 0.46+
Mother is strict — — 1.27 1.65
Father is close — — 0.77 1.03
Mother is close — — 1.44 2.71+
N 713 715 614 482
Log likelihood 70.69 124.86 168.02 129.56
w2 81.85 181.28 289.92 341.75
Degrees of freedom 9 9 14 14

***p ¼ 0:001; **p ¼ 0:01; *p ¼ 0:05; +p ¼ 0:10:

a
For those adolescents in school during the 1994 survey; adjusted for current grade in 1994.
b
For those adolescents in school during the 1999 survey; adjusted for current grade in 1999.

more grades and for each additional grade the mother completes, the girls attain 0.04 more
grades. For each additional item of household wealth, girls attain 0.14 more grades. Among the
marital relationship variables, for each additional household decision made jointly, girls attain
0.11 more grades and if their parents argue, girls attain 0.34 fewer grades. None of the
parent–child relationship variables significantly predict girls’ attainment by 2002.
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Table 3
Last completed or current number of grades attained in school by the 2002 survey predicted by characteristics of the
parental household, marital relationship, and parent–child relationship (Beta coefficients)a

Girls Boys

Parental characteristics (1994)

Father’s education (years) 0.05* 0.02
Mother’s education (years) 0.05* 0.07**
Household characteristics (1999)
Household wealth (items) 0.14*** 0.10***
Income (Log scale) 0.03 0.09
Urban residence 0.22+ 0.46**
Household size (number) 0.04 0.07*
Marital relationship (1994)
Household decisions
Decisions made jointly (0–6) 0.10*** 0.001
Wife abused 0.01 0.34+
Marital relationship (1999)
Parents ever argue 0.34* 0.06
Parent–child relationship (1999)
Father is strict 0.18 0.06
Mother is strict 0.09 0.26
Father is close 0.05 0.01
Mother is close 0.06 0.56*
N 614 482
R2 0.28 0.19

***p ¼ 0:001; **p ¼ 0:01; *p ¼ 0:05; +p ¼ 0:10:

a
Includes only those in school in 1999.

For boys, there are also several parental and household characteristics that predict the number
of grades attained by 2002. For each additional year of education the mother’s attained, boys
complete 0.07 more grades. For each additional item of household wealth, boys attain 0.10 more
grades while urban residence and household size are inversely related to grade attainment. Boys in
households where mother’s were physically abused in 1994 attain fewer grades although this
relationship is not significant at the po0:05 level (p ¼ 0:09). Boys with mothers who are close to
them attain 0.58 more grades than boys whose mothers are not close. A gender interaction
analysis based on a model that includes both girls and boys (data not shown) reveals that the
coefficients for decision-making and mother being close are significantly different between girls
and boys.
In Cebu, most adolescents report that their mothers are permissive with 59% of girls and 77%
of boys reporting that their mothers are close but not strict. The second most common category is
authoritative (close and strict) with 23% of girls and 13% of boys reporting that their mothers are
both close and strict. Approximately 10% of girls and 7% of boys report that their mothers
are not close and not strict (neglectful) and 3% of girls and 8% of boys report that their mothers
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Years Attained in Secondary School

Completed Secondary School, %
Panel A Panel B
100% 4 3.7
3.4
82% 3.3
80% 75% 77%
3 2.8

60%
48% 2
40%
1
20%

0% 0
NC/NS NC/S C/NS C/S NC/NS NC/S C/NS C/S
Neglectful Authoritatian Permissive Authoritative Neglectful Authoritatian Permissive Authoritative
**p≤0.01, *p≤0.05 **p≤0.01, *p≤0.05
Parenting Style Parenting Style

Fig. 2. Adjusted percentage of boys completing secondary school (Panel A) and adjusted mean number of years of
secondary school attended by age 18 (Panel B) by parenting style.

are not close and strict (authoritarian). These gender differences in reported parenting style are
statistically significant (p ¼ 0:0001) based on a chi-square test. The gender differences are again
significant between fathers and their adolescent sons and daughters, and the rank ordering of
parenting style remains similar for boys. Girls, however, are more likely to report that their
fathers are authoritarian (second most common category).
Fig. 2 shows the results of testing whether parenting style, according to Baumrind’s typology,
predicts educational outcomes in boys. Since the parent–child relationship was not significantly
associated with school completion or grade attainment in girls (see Tables 2 and 3), data for the
girls are not presented in Fig. 2, although the trends are generally similar. These results are
adjusted to the mean value for boys on all the variables in Tables 2 and 3. Panel A shows the
percentage of boys completing secondary school by parenting style. Significance tests compare all
categories of parenting style to neglectful mothers enabling discussion of the other parenting styles
as protective. Forty-eight percent of boys with neglectful mothers (not close, not strict) completed
secondary school. A higher percentage of boys completed secondary school with other parenting
styles—75% with authoritarian mothers, 77% with permissive mothers and 82% with
authoritative mothers. These large percentage differences are statistically significant as compared
to having neglectful mothers for all but authoritarian mothers, the least common category. These
results support the notion that adolescent boys fare better with authoritative and permissive
mothers than with neglectful mothers.
Similar results are shown in Panel B of Fig. 2. Using the number of years attained in school as
an outcome, the relationship between school attainment and parenting style is explored. All
statistical comparisons are made to boys with neglectful mothers and all figures presented are
adjusted for the variables shown in Table 3. Since the average number of years completed are
greater than six, the scale on the y-axis is limited to secondary school years. Boys in households
with neglectful mothers complete, on average, all years of primary school plus 2.8 years of
secondary school and boys with authoritarian mothers complete an average of 3.3 years of
secondary school. As was seen in Panel A, boys with permissive or authoritative mothers fare
better—attaining 3.4 years and 3.7 years of secondary school, respectively. These two panels
suggest that the benefits of mother’s parenting style are mainly through mother’s being close to
their sons, since both permissive and authoritative parenting styles are beneficial.
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Discussion

Prior research suggests that family dynamics have an impact on adolescents’ educational
success (Dornbusch et al., 1987; Steinberg et al., 1992; Aunola et al., 2000). Mother’s parenting
style, as conceptualized in this paper, is an important factor in educational attainment for boys
(Research Questions 1 and 3). Baumrind’s typology is predictive with boys from the most
‘‘optimal’’ parenting from mothers having the highest educational attainment. It is interesting to
note that only mother’s parenting style was important. Perhaps mothers are more influential than
fathers in this setting because women are accorded relatively high status in the household
(Alcantara, 1994; Mason & Smith, 2000; Medina, 2001) and make many of the household
decisions that affect adolescents.
While researchers report few, if any, differences in parenting style by child’s gender (Steinberg
and Silk, 2002), this study reveals important differences in adolescents’ perceptions of parenting
style by gender. While both boys and girls report a more permissive parenting style overall, boys
are more likely than girls to perceive their mothers as permissive, while girls are more likely than
boys to perceive their mothers as authoritative. Both permissive and authoritative parenting
contains an element of feeling close to the parent, but girls perceive that their mothers are also
strict. This gender difference fits in well with Medina’s description of girls being more protected
(Medina, 2001). It is also interesting to note that while both boys and girls most often report
having permissive fathers, girls are more likely to find that their fathers are authoritarian. This
gender difference may reflect the recent changes in Filipino society, whereby parents report that
children are no longer ‘‘obedient and submissive’’ and children report that parents are ‘‘very
unreasonable and strict’’ (Medina, 2001). With new opportunities for women including longer
schooling and new career options, girls may be experiencing more changes in gender norms that
lead to more discord (and strictness) with their parents.
In Western settings, several studies have shown that marital conflict is related to educational
achievement (Cherlin et al., 1991; Musick and Bumpass, 1999) Although this study employs non-
standard measures of marital conflict, there is support for the notion that marital conflict has an
adverse effect of educational outcomes. In Cebu, girls who experience their parents’ marital
difficulties are less likely to finish primary school and eventually complete fewer grades in school
by age 18 (Research Questions 2 and 3). Girls who live in households where their father was
abusive in 1994 are less likely to finish primary school and those who report conflict between their
parents in 1999 attain fewer grades in school. Girls are strongly affected by their parents’
relationship, so much so that when their parents had a more harmonious marriage when the girls
were age 11, it predicts subsequent completion of secondary school and educational attainment by
age 18. Again, this study supports the hypothesis that parental conflict has a negative impact on
educational outcomes.
The strong gender effects suggest that there are a unique set of relationships between parents
and their adolescent boys and girls. There may be important social and cultural factors that are
important to consider in the context of child-rearing in the Philippines. With the observed
relationships and the differences by gender, perhaps Filipino parents need to pay particular
attention marital conflict in the presence of their daughters. In addition, perhaps more effort
could be directed toward highlighting the potential for a close mother–son bond to help boys stay
in school longer. Further work to determine these associations extend to other domains important
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314 M.J. Hindin / Journal of Adolescence 28 (2005) 299–316

for youth such as employment, family formation, and mental and physical health and well-being
may be important.
Even with longitudinal data, there are some important limitations of this study. Since these data
were collected as part of a larger study to assess the effects of health and nutrition, the questions
concerning parenting style and marital relationship are limited, particularly when compared to the
scales available in the larger psychological literature. The only measures available for the marital
relationship focus on conflict, or lack thereof, which limits the scope of findings. Without
standardized scales, these results are not directly comparable to many of the US studies that look
at some of these relationships. However, this study does present an opportunity to explore the
relationship between parenting and marital relationship in a setting where marriages cannot be
ended with divorce, and in a context of rapid urbanization and change in the developing world.
By only including adolescents with intact families in school in 1994, there is the possibility of
selection bias. However, intact families are highly normative in the Philippines. Another
limitation of this study is that many of the questions that are of central interest in this paper were
only asked at one time point. It cannot be determined whether some characteristics are enduring
or whether the transient presence of these traits has a long-term impact. For example, with
household decision-making only being measured at one point in time, it is unclear whether the
strong association observed up to 8 years later is due to the consistency of household decision-
making patterns or whether household decision-making patterns when adolescents are 11 years
old are very influential even if the patterns change later on. A final weakness is that the description
of parenting style is primarily provided from one point of view—that of the adolescent. Mothers’
nearly universally report that they are ‘‘close’’ to their adolescent child, making this variable
uninformative. While having several points of view may be valuable, the limited data from this
study suggest that how adolescents ‘‘experience’’ their relationships may be a better measure than
the parental point of view. Future studies should consider adding more complete and
internationally validated scales to consider both the parental and adolescent views on the
parent–child and marital relationships.
The social context will continue to play an important role in the lives of Filipino adolescents
and their families. The context for Filipino adolescents is distinct with its rapid urbanization,
advances in technology, as well as high levels of unemployment. This context makes the processes
of schooling and employment very different for the adolescents in this study compared to their
parents. In addition, parents are unable to divorce, making this a study which includes parental
conflict in the absence of divorce. With increasing entry of women into the labour force in the
Philippines (Medina, 2001) and the global and local trend toward increasing unemployment,
particularly for youth and women (International Labour Organization, 2003), trends in the length
of schooling as well as the need for technical or skill-based schooling (i.e., learning how to operate
and program computers) rather than a more general curriculum may evolve. In addition, the
international need for English-speaking labour in nursing, for example, (Gamble, 2002) can
impact on the schooling choices of adolescents.
Despite the unique social and economic factors at play in the Philippines, many of the findings
from earlier research are confirmed in this study. Parental conflict can adversely affect children up
to 8 years later while marital harmony and a positive parent–child relationship can be protective.
Future studies should examine the generalizability of these results to both developed and
developing world contexts.
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