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An Exploration of Filipino Resilience of Young Adults in the 21st Century

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 An Exploration of Filipino Resilience of Young Adults in the 21st Century
Christian Jasper Nicomedes1​ ​, Mary Joyce Gamad2​ ​, James Vincent Dinglasa2​ ​, 1​ ​Jhaven Mañas,
1​
Lennon Andre Patricio

1​
The Masters Psychological Services
2​
Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Author Note

Christian Jasper C. Nicomedes: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1509-4962

Mary Joyce G. Gamad: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3368-2258

James Vincent R. Dinglasa: ​https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6490-4322

Jhaven Manas: h​ttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6773-539X

Lennon Patricio: ​https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8409-2170

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christian Jasper

Nicomedes, 808 Tandang Sora Ave., Old Balara, Quezon City, Philippines. Email:

christianjaspern.yahoo.com
 Abstract

Resilience is an imperative process of returning to stability, a much too familiar concept among

Filipinos. Filipinos are often associated with being resilient, with the Philippines being a

hot-spot for natural disasters and current economic and health care problems. However, despite

this trait, cases of mental health problems continue to persist and worsen. This situation opens a

stage for inquiry towards how Filipino resilience is currently portrayed. In this paper, the

researchers attempted to challenge the current view of the ​Resilience of Filipinos. The

researchers explored the experiences of Filipinos who experienced various life adversities by

analyzing their narratives. The result shows coping from hardships, considering the preexisting

traits, adversities, effect traits, and coping. In addition, this is influenced by family, religion and

spirituality, and community. Results also show the process of resilience during the emergence of

new adversities. This will eventually develop a more suitable intervention program, perhaps a

therapeutic technique that will be fit for Filipinos.

Keywords: ​stability, validation, resilience, coping

 Introduction

The concept of shared inner self resulted in resilience, based on Filipino Psychology.

Resilience directly means “elasticity” or “vigor” that generally stands for the tolerance of the

disruption of a system. Humans can recover from adverse circumstances, grievances, illnesses,

and failures and start anew (Amann, 2015). As being one among many countries that

continuously experiences various challenges such as natural calamity (typhoons, earthquake,

volcanic eruptions, etc.), colonization (from Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese), poverty, and

unjust government, the Philippines were often labeled as being the most resilient among other

countries. With these kinds of experiences, the Filipino people have managed to cultivate their

coping mechanism. Coping is the manner of engaging the struggles in the community that is

perceived as stressful or highly problematic that exceeds their capacity and community

resources (Ladrido-Ignacio, 2011). Furthermore, these catastrophes stress the urge of Filipinos

to be more proactively resistant to adversities that have shaped the psyche of Filipinos

(Kalmanowits, Potash & Chan, 2012).

Resilience describes the Filipino people in times of adversity. In Filipino tradition and

social media, Filipinos often portray themselves as a bunch of people smiling during the face of

adversity. In some way, it promotes a national image of a strong nation, one that can quickly

make a joke, and a smile is an asset. Seeing this kind of way to lighten the situation somehow

uplifts the spirit and leaves a message that life is every day and resumes it soon (Jocson, 2016).

Furthermore, several local researchers adhere to the definition mentioned above of resilience as

a process of return to stability. However, considering how culture may affect the context of

resilience, several reports of resilience have been incorporated into the generally accepted

definition to tailor a much suitable explanation for the Philippine context. This follows the idea
that resilience heavily relies on the context in which it is used (i.e., individual, organizational,

ecological, community) and that there may be a need to transcend such context due to certain

complexities which future researchers need to untangle (Bhamra, Dani, & Burnard, 2011).

Estanislao (2017) recognized, along with the general definition, a socioecological

perspective of resilience, which identifies resilience as “the capacity of an individual to navigate

to health-enhancing resources which nurtures relational, individual and community asset.” This

definition transcends the individualistic notion of resilience as it synthesizes the idea of

collectivism, which is a familiar orientation parallel to the Filipino context of the shared

inner-self. Another perspective in understanding how resilience is viewed in the Philippines is

through the narratives that exist in Filipino society. In the study that is anchored to the idea of

Filipino anthropologist Felipe Landa Jocano, several themes were laid out parallel to the coping

and resilience of the Filipino people categorized namely ;(1) Letting God Be, (2) Humor, and (3)

Community (Ang & Diaz, 2017). These themes, along with several others, have been identified as

protective factors among Filipinos at times of distress.

Identifying protective factors are an integral part, along with vulnerability factors, in

understanding resilience (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000). Filipinos have identified some protective

factors across local literature, with strong faith being the most common protective factor

(Hechanova et al., 2015; Landrido-Ignacio, 2011). Several more have been identified as a

Filipino protective factor, including a strong sense of collectivism and family (Versoza, 2011),

optimism (Carandang, 1996), rationalization (Ang & Diaz, 2017), resourcefulness (Adviento &

De Guzman, 2010), and the well-known Filipino sense of humor (Landrido-Ignacio, 2011).

On the contrary, resilience is an individual’s way of coping with adversities by using

personal and social resources (Prilleltensky, 2012). This is a general value one can concede to as
it is a common theme among the definitions above of resilience. Bonanno et al. (2007) further

state that coping and resilience have a causal relationship, wherein coping is a process while

resilience results from successful coping.

Furthermore, despite heterogeneity, there is a strong association between resilience and

mental health, being that there is a higher level of resilience associated with better mental health

in the somatically ill. A key concept underlying such a conclusion is that mental health

maintenance is commonly considered to denote successful coping under adverse conditions and

is a recognized concept through the context of physical illness (​Färber et al., 2018)​. The study

acknowledges the two perspectives of resilience, one through the lens of developmental

psychology -- defining resilience as a dynamic process, and the current personality psychology

research approach referred to as trait resilience (​Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004; Ong et al., 2009).

As an extension, Hu et al. (2014) further highlighted their findings, in a correlation

mediated by gender, age, and adversity, that trait resilience is negatively correlated to negative

mental health indicators and positively correlated to positive indicators of mental health. In

addition, another research suggested that resilience is a continuum process and consisted of two

poles: less good resilience and optimum resilience: less good resilience includes malicious

behavior (i.e., survival tactics of violence, high-risk behaviors, and social and emotional

disengagement) to sum it up the main point of the study is that adolescents who demonstrate

less optimum resilience often are maladapted adults.

The cumulative thought of these studies is that; 1) the state of mental health denotes the

level of resilience; 2) resilience is a product of successful coping; and 3) there is a consistent

observation of the association of mental health despite heterogeneity among gender, age, and

adversity. One can assess the actual state of resilience in the Philippines using these ideas.
 According to Bollettino et al. (2018), in research on assessing disaster resilience in the

Philippines, only 27 percent of the population (among 4,368 interviewees) is confident that they

will be able to adjust to changes brought by disasters, whereas 41 percent reported that they are

very likely to struggle in coping with changes caused by disasters. Among Filipino respondents

nationwide, 18 percent experienced depression and trauma-related to disasters, and yet less

than 1 percent of the population have acknowledged receiving any form of therapy or treatment.

Furthermore, 79 percent of the population reported feelings of discouragement related to

disasters. In addition, respondents reported feeling that they will not receive much help from

peers, neighbors, or non-government organizations (NGOs), showing 64 percent of the

population reporting that they are self-reliant in preparing for a disaster, 62 percent during and

63 percent on the aftermath of the disaster (Bollettino et al., 2018).

In terms of the Philippines’ state of mental health, reports from DOH (2005) stated that

the National Statistics Office found mental illness, the third most common form of morbidity.

With 88 cases of mental health problems reported in every 100,000 members of the population,

these figures are likely a euphemism of the actual extent of mental health in the Philippines

(Lally et al., 2019). Furthermore, the Philippine Statistics Authority (2010) reported that 14% of

the 1.4 million Filipino population who are PWDs were identified with a mental disorder. The

overall suicide rate in 2016 has been recorded at 3.2/100,000 with a higher rate in males

compared to females (WHO, 2018). Mental health care, however, has been limited due to the

pre-existing stigma surrounding mental health problems. Furthermore, another study

found-out, especially for Filipinos living in the capital of the country- Manila, a current estimate

suggests that there is a 32% occurrence rate for mental disorders in one's lifetime (Pabellon,

2012).
 According to Tanaka (2018), three themes make up the context of public belief

surrounding mental health problems here in the Philippines which is 1) familial problems, 2)

oversimplified chronic course, and 3) unrealistic pessimism and optimism about the severity of

mental health problems. These themes serve as roots of the stigma on mental health, further

exacerbated by the country’s low health care system. Currently, as the country faces significant

adversity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health issues in the Philippines have been

magnified. According to World Health Organization (2020), with age group 15-29 being

recorded globally as the most vulnerable population (with mental-health related deaths as the

second leading cause of death among this age group), the need to raise the issue of breaking the

stigma surrounding mental health in the Philippines is becoming urgent as Filipinos continue to

feel uncomfortable in sharing their feelings due to fear of being judged and alienated which may

cause a significant impact in the general state of mental health of the country. Furthermore, the

National Center for Mental Health reported a significant increase in monthly hotline calls

related to depression, with a recorded increase of almost 400 calls from the previous 80

monthly calls during pre-lockdown, despite being consistently ranked among the top 5 of the

global optimism index (WHO, 2020).

With the presented studies and data, one can hypothesize on the state of resilience in the

Philippines using the cumulative ideas of the aforementioned studies looking into the

association of resilience, coping, and mental health- whereas, state of mental health describes

the level of resilience. The level of resilience describes how successful our coping is. Based on the

presented literature, the state of mental health in the Philippines is concerning due to the

stigma, along with poor health care and economic capacity, that causes people with mental

health problems to feel judged and alienated, which inhibits their will to seek mental health care

and therefore exacerbate their condition. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic further
magnified these problems’ impact, causing an evident impact on the Philippines’ already

worsening mental health state. Therefore, if the Philippines has a poor mental health state

based on the data, it is imperative to assess whether or not the country’s resilience is low, which

may indicate that coping is unsuccessful.

Thus this study aims to show a new perspective on the Filipino concept of resilience and

show a framework encapsulating the themes made with the respondents’ insights about their life

challenges and resilience.

Methodology

The researchers used a qualitative design to address interpretive frameworks’ critical

theoretical view relative to social contexts. Specifically, the narrative inquiry was used to include

stories that have a valuable end-point, involve events relevant to a topic, incorporate events in a

coherent order relative to time and provide a sense of explanation (Wells, 2011). A

semi-structured questionnaire was developed by the researchers to explore the respondents’

narratives with regards to resilience. The instrument was validated by various subject matter

experts to ensure it satisfies the construct of the study. Due to the limitations of the COVID-19

pandemic to conduct face-to-face interviews, the researchers interviewed the respondents via

phone call or video call. Consent forms and guide questionnaires were sent through email before

the interview was conducted.

Description of the Respondents

The researchers interviewed a total of 11 respondents for this study. They are described

according to their demographic profile (i.e., age, gender) and their current state of affairs,

including the significant adversity they experienced, which will be vaguely described in this

section as per the agreement on strict confidentiality.

Respondent Sex Age Current Affairs Major Adversities

She is currently an employee Her reported major adversities are her bad
Brimstone Female 21 of a bank and living in a dorm feelings towards her current job and the loss of
away from family. her mother.

She reported her distress during the

Currently, a 3rd-year college
COVID-19 pandemic, financial problems, and
Phoenix Female 20 student majoring in
her self-esteem as her significant adversities.
Psychology.
Recently experienced major adversities such
as health problems, for which she experienced
stigma, especially on the onset of the
A current 3rd-year Psychology
Sage Female 20 pandemic here in the Philippines. She also
student.
reported having experienced distress due to
recent family problems.

Respondent’s reported adversity is his

Currently studying as a
Sova schoolfriend’s recent passing, grandmother
Male 19 2nd-year Psychology major in
(due to sickness), and churchmate (due to
college.
suicide).
She has reported intense negative feelings
towards the events (reported deaths) following
A college student majoring in
the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
Sociology and is approaching
Viper Female 20 recent passing of her loved ones. Additionally,
her 3rd year this academic
she finds her self-esteem as a concerning
year.
matter.

Professional working as a
She is the breadwinner of her family, raising
researcher for a large
and taking care of her siblings, one of which
company, she is currently
Cyphe​r Female 25 has a severe medical condition, all at the same
taking up psychology as her
time.
second course during the
pandemic.
She is currently unsure how she will continue
Currently, a student at a state with her education because of the pandemic’s
Reyna Female 20 university taking up BS in implications. Her family’s sources of income
Education. are facing problems due to the lack of
opportunities during this time.
He is currently employed as a He reported having experienced natural
Killjoy Male 21 recruitment associate in a BPO calamities and personal problems as the
company. significant adversities he had experienced.
She reported experiencing sexual abuse from
She is currently a senior high
Breach Female 17 her uncle and cousin when she was young.
school student.
She experienced losing two of her loved ones,
Omen She is currently a fresh which is her mom and grandfather. Also,
Female 21
graduate and a freelancer. experiencing family conflicts with the family,
she is living with.
The pandemic made her fear the pandemic
Her profession is human
Jett Female 27 and being conscious of health.
resource personnel.
Ethical Consideration

Researchers needed to deal with ethical challenges throughout the study, from the

conceptualization to the execution and the study’s post data gathering phases. The researchers

discussed and took the respondent’s consent and assured the respondents that the data gathered

will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and that their identity will not be disclosed to

anyone but the research team.

The researchers acknowledge the possibility that participants might have adverse

reactions to the questions. Respondents were not forced to answer every question and have the

freedom not to respond to questions they are not comfortable answering. With this taken into

account, the researchers provided debriefing to the respondents after the interview. The

researchers are to provide counseling sessions for respondents that would report any emotional

disturbances caused by the interview.

Results and Discussion

Based on the analysis of interviews, four frameworks were extracted that shows how

resilience is being developed in a person. These four frameworks are named: Coping to

Adversity Process, Influences of Coping to Adversities, Path of Resilience, and lastly, the

paradigm of Filipino Resilience.

 Figure 1. Coping to Adversity Process

Figure 1. The model explains the Coping to Adversity Process in which a person attempts

to find a proper coping mechanism for the problem they experience. The process starts with the

pre-existing traits that a person has in their personality, which can either be positive or negative.

These pre-existing traits were nurtured from their past experiences. It is usually affected by

health, cognitive performance, perceived control, and social factors (Wagner, Ram, Smith &

Gerstorf, 2016). Young adulthood was also shown to be a significant contributor to personality

trait development (Milojev & Sibley, 2017). Respondents show either positive or negative

preexisting traits that mostly govern their reaction to adversities. Positive pre-existing traits

include selflessness, optimism, and problem openness, whereas pre-existing negative traits

include being problem secretive and being pampered by their family members. They were open

to problems roots in how their family members accommodate the attempts to share their

problems.

Sage expresses an inhibited interaction with her family, saying, “My first thought is that

people around me, like my friends and family, have problems too, and I do not want to burden
them further… I share some with friends, though.” She further states, “Sharing my problems

with others is an infrequent occasion where out of 10 personal problems, I share only 2.”

Brimstone also stated similar sentiments, saying, ​“I wanted to consider my family… But

these past few months, I cannot consider them much because I am trying to be my person.”, as

well as Viper, who said, ​“I am more open with sharing my problems with friends more than my

family.”

Lastly, Sova also said similar ideas, stating, ​“I look at everything objectively, and I

isolate emotions. This helps because I am a tranquil person, and I do not share my insights

much with friends and family.” Contrary to prior statements, Reyna expresses her closeness

with her family, stating, ​“My family is too close to each other. We are very close, even with

​ his closeness leads to being more open with other people as

second-degree family members.” T

she further states, ​“I can share almost anything with my friends…”

A well-established support group shows a significant positive effect on a person’s

resilience. A study shows that people who received positive youth development approaches

manifest significantly higher youth resilience levels (Sanders et al., 2015). The result shows that

those individuals who received unconditional positive regard and support from their family

members tend to be more open in disclosing their problems to their family and others. Whereas

if the initial attempts of an individual to disclose their thoughts to others did not receive an open

acceptance, then they will develop being secretive on their problems.

Furthermore, the respondents experienced either persistent or unexpected adversities

such as sexual harassment, job loss, calamities, etc. These adversities usually result in an Effect

Trait in which relative to the pre-existing traits, can also be positive or negative. One of the

positive effects of adversities is developing sensitivity to other people since they know exactly

how it feels to face adversity that usually results in selflessness.

 Killjoy expresses his thoughts about what other people feel by saying, ​“I think most

people feel sad/depressed [after a calamity/adversity]... We feel problems to a different

degree. We all know that the situation is tough on them, and therefore it is hard to [hastily

express] that we understand them fully. It is tough and sad.”

Cypher further states that ​“It is not always true that thinking positive is the answer.

People should find someone whom they trust and who can listen to them confide and vent.

They should find hobbies that would help them switch their attention away from their

problem.”​ They understand that negative emotions do not always manifest in behavior.

Breach further states that, ​“​For the last part, please include that whatever happened

to them, their trauma and abuse was not their fault even when they think they should have

read the signs or see it coming. They should not lock themselves up in vain in place of their

abusers because if anything, in life, they are the ones who deserve to feel safe especially in

their skin and that they will be okay” They also gain more confidence, patience, and empathy

from overcoming the first adversities. Following the initial adversities, respondents also

manifest their preparedness and awareness of the environment to prevent further damage if

those adversities reoccur.

Jett emphasizes preparation and awareness during calamities, saying, ​“We need to be

aware ahead of time… we must think what we should do- anticipate how we would react and

all other possibilities of things happening or going out of place. In emergencies [like the

devastation of typhoons], I prepared all my essential things, especially my documents, in one

bag.” Studies show that positive emotions increase resilience directly and indirectly through

coping strategies as the mediator (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016). Furthermore, positive affect,

self-efficacy, optimism, social support, self-esteem, and life satisfaction yielded significant

positive correlations with resilience (Martinez-Marti & Ruch, 2017).

 On the other hand, following the adversities, individuals may also manifest negative

effect traits. This includes situation unacceptance, dysfunction to daily life, negative emotions

and behaviors, demotivation, anxiety, decreased self-esteem, and self-doubt.

Brimstone states that ​“Sometimes, I do not think I learn [from my struggles] because I

procrastinate… I feel gratified [when I procrastinate]. However, you know, when I’m still

awake at dawn, after finishing my game and am about to sleep, I suddenly feel that I wasted

another day.” ​One contributing factor to these is the harsh parental discipline, which seems to

be significantly associated with emotional and behavioral problems (Flouri & Midouhas, 2017).

Figure 2. Influences of Coping on Adversities

Figure 2 displays the coping process of the respondents facing adversities. The model

consistently describes and encompasses the areas that affect and influences them most, which

are Family, Religion, and Spirituality, and lastly, their Community. Comparing individualist and
collectivist cultures’ coping styles shows that individualists use acceptance, reframing, striving,

avoidance, and detachment, whereas collectivists use family support, religion-spirituality, and

private emotional outlets (Hu et al., 2018).

When asked about communicating about personal problems and to whom they seek to

support, respondent Jett said that: ​“I disclose problems to my family only. However, do not

share everything, I only disclose the simple ones, but those that are difficult and profound I

​ urthermore, on the importance of family influence, respondent Breach

keep them for myself.” F

said: ​“Uhm.. yes very important. Nevertheless, even if that is the case, sometimes it does not

​ owever, even if there is some reluctance on emotional support, she finds that
feel that way.” H

family still plays a vital role in one’s coping influence.

Phoenix also added essential aspects of family influence, as she stated that: ​“ We really

wanted to help our family in terms of financial support because three of our family members

lost their jobs during this pandemic. My brother gave us a little capital for us to start a small

business, and I am currently handling it.”

In the study by Lohman & Jarvis (2000), their claims support the idea that adolescents

also involve their families in the dynamics of their stressors, coping strategies, and psychological

health. This also works for the parents to understand their children. It also considers that

adolescents reach out to their families for advice to influence them or their families themselves,

inflicting their adversity. Furthermore, religion and informal support from family and friends

appear to help Filipinos cope with many of the adversities they face (Straiton, Ledesma, &

Donnelly, 2017).

It has also been recognized that religion/spirituality affects how people deal with

adversities. Especially in the Philippines, people tend to subscribe to faith as a resort to seek

help for problems that they deem impossible to confront. This is expressed through prayers,
rituals, and attendance in preaching periods to find answers or wait for miracles, which may

solve adversities or find comfort. Brimstone said, ​“ After submitting my resignation for the job I

do not find fulfilling, I downloaded the song “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga. I found asking

the Lord for guidance comforting.” Religion and spirituality also provide interpersonal support

from people who subscribe to the same belief or are avid members of the same religion. This

gives feelings of belongingness, understanding, and reassurance, which may boost confidence in

confronting a problem.

Although Reyna is a non-practicing catholic, she states that ​“ Whenever my religious

friends tell me that they would pray for me, despite my disbelief in their faith, I still feel like it

feels good to be told that.” Sova further states, “ I share my problems [usually] with my church

friends… I see them as my emotional support.​” To some extent, the reaction or perception of

members towards a problem can affect how one will perceive a problem. If members or the head

of a religion deems particular adversity as something only prayers can answer, then this

perception influences avid followers who, in turn, tend to mirror insights.

When asked about the assistance of religion or their spirituality, respondent Omen said

that: ​“Actually in all aspects, they help in physical, mental, emotional, and financial because

they even gave three thousand as a love kit. They are benevolent, especially as the family needs

it.” ​She further added that in the cases of difficult times she narrated that: “I don't know because

some people may say that shocks you have a difficult problem if I were in your position I might

have given up. But you know what, for some reason I have strength, I have strength because

my strength comes from the Lord"

A lot of Filipino Catholic youth utilize positive religious coping methods more frequently

than negative strategies (Castillo & Alino, 2020). Furthermore, a study on the Filipino clergy
families shows that they view adversities as something that God controls and believes that it can

be resolved through faith in God and the sense of family unity (Guzman & Teh, 2016).

Lastly, the community influences the coping with adversity process of an individual on a

macro scale. This means that it employs a collective perception/behavior of the members in the

community towards a problem which may change the perceived environment of an individual in

terms of dealing with a calamity. It has been proven that the sense of community positively

mediates the relationship between perceived cognitive ability and psychological well-being

(Agbayani, Villaflor, Villaret & Hechanova, 2019). Furthermore, Filipinos use mutual support

among family and community members as protective factors (Jocson & Garcia, 2017). If

community heads manifest panic in the face of adversity, it signals unpreparedness and

vulnerability to danger. This will circulate throughout the community which changes the

atmosphere perceived by the members and therefore affects how an individual will see the

problem. This is the reason why masking problems from members of the society is justified in

some cases in order to avoid panic and disrupt order.

In which Viper expresses the effect of their community to her stating: For community

officials, in our community from my experience I cannot feel their presence, maybe because I

do not have a personal interaction with them that's why I don't feel something. Although they

affect my life in terms of policy making, like having curfew that made me stay in our home.

But on a personal level, I don't care since I haven't got in touch with them. Also, I think that I

feel the impact of my fellow community members greater instead of the officials. Because for

the community members. You would feel the social pressure to abide by the rules and that's a

much considerable impact.”

In addition to that Viper said that in terms of community belongingness considering her

friends as a sense of community ​“I think they understand me better since we experience the
same struggles and at the same time I am much open to my friends. Wherein I am free to

express anything that I want, without judgments so I divulge it to my friends only. “

These three domains may influence coping with the adversity process and also be sources

of adversities themselves. This is denoted by the red and blue contrast in the figure. When

adversity arises from one domain, it is likely that an individual may subscribe to the other

domains for support.

Figure 3. The Path of Resilience

Figure 3 shows the path of resilience wherein it processes the new adversities

experienced by an individual. It can be seen in the previous figures that coping with adversities

are influenced by family, religion-spirituality, or community. The result shows that when new

adversities arise, individuals often see these influences negatively and blame it for what has

happened to them. Subsequently, if these influences show emotional support and acceptance of

the individual, they will undergo the path of resilience wherein they will have a change of
perspective on these influences. The result shows the emergence of negative resilience and

positive resilience.

Researchers observed that individuals who remain tolerant despite the negative

influences on their coping develop negative resilience. It is defined as being able to survive past

adversities and new adversities with negative behavior, negative thoughts, and a negative

perspective of the world. These people tend to struggle in their daily lives with self-harming

thoughts and behaviors that are caused by their negative experiences. Furthermore, they tend to

manifest retaliation towards either their family or other people and tend to condemn the

existence of God and religion.

On the other hand, there are individuals who, despite their adversities, tend to develop

healthier resilience. Whenever they experience new adversities, they cope positively together

with either family, religion-spirituality, or community. These people either resort directly to

positive resilience or have gone through negative resilience first that eventually developed into

positivity.

This path of resilience should be occupied by different interventions to direct our

existing coping styles towards resilience. There are existing resilience interventions in the

Philippines, which focus mostly on building-on positive coping, like “​Katatagan: Resilience

Intervention”​. The negative coping, however, is left out of the equation. If there are no

interventions that consider this, then negative coping will not be directed back to positive

resilience. This is why there is a gap existing in the path of resilience which yearns to be filled

with resilience interventions that consider both coping styles in order to effectively and

inclusively cater to the Filipino people in times of calamity.

After going through the path of resilience, an individual is directed to positive resilience.

As new adversities arrive, the individual continues to adapt and go through this cycle. Familiar
adversities become easier to solve as the individual learns to deal with them. Going through the

path of resilience, adversities in the areas of family, religion/spirituality, and community where

negative coping is developed can be directed to a positive resilience whether the adversity is

towards a single area or if it is affecting multiple areas. For example, an adversity that concerns

only the area of family and develops negative coping, going through the path of resilience will

lead to the adjustment and development of positive resilience. If the adversity extends to two or

more areas and develops negative coping, the path of resilience will lead to a proper adjustment

and development of positive resilience in such areas respectively. The path of resilience will then

take into account the different factors from different areas where negative coping is developed.

Figure 4.

The Paradigm of Filipino Resilience

 Figure 4 is the cumulative framework of figures 1-3 which describes the paradigm of

Filipino Resilience. In this figure, coping with the adversity process sits as the core process,

where respondents stated their ways to cope with adversities. The three domains: family,

religion/spirituality, and community, influence the coping to adversities process in either

positive or negative ways that lead to either positive or negative coping styles in dealing with

adversities. These domains may also be a particular area of concern, where negative coping is

developed. Through the path of resilience, where interventions take place, coping styles are

directed towards resilience, be it positive or negative. This is a cyclic pattern where an individual

learns to adapt and where the three domains continue to affect the perception of individuals

towards problems.

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