DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA

(Formerly City College of Lucena)

Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

In the present-day society, discussions and debates regarding birth order in the

family and their distinct personality description were put on the limelight. According to

Alfred Adler’s Birth Order Theory (1900), he stated the five birth order’s characteristics.

The only child as the family’s center of attention, the eldest child who is seen as someone

reliable and responsible, the second child may be the peacemaker and the competitive one

especially towards the eldest, the middle child whom Adler considered to feel

“sandwiched” in the family and may feel unimportant and less loved, and the youngest

child who is the baby of the family and known to be more favored by their parents.

However, among these five, one is viewed as the counterpart of their parents.

Eldest children experienced the firsts of their parents. From their mothers’ first

pregnancy journey, the child- birthing, the exploration stage of ups and downs, trials and

errors, and struggles of raising their first born. Parents are extra careful about them in this

time as they are able to provide their full attention to the eldest child which is a resulting

factor to parents’ strictness and expectations towards the first born.

 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

As they grow, eldest children began to mature, see the reality and the situations

wherein they start to develop the characteristics of an eldest child deemed by the society

and the family in particular. In defining the eldest children’s traits, they are said to be

dominant- aggressive, leaderlike, friendly, caring, responsible, ambitious, intelligent, and

independent (Case, 2011). It indicates how eldest children of a family is regarded as all of

these positive traits that is oftenly understood as their strong features, making them as the

most reliable, dependable, and stable child. However, there are instances where

differences in treatment of the eldest child develops depending on the sex of the first born

and is usually inclined with their family religion, including their beliefs. In an article

published on 2023 by Maybelle Morgan entitled “Are You Okay or Are You An Eldest

Daughter?”, it was described how eldest daughters grew up quickly, sacrificing their

childhood just to play the role of being a parent. In the same context, religion greatly

affects the parenting of parents to their child with their accustomed beliefs, values, and

norms. Consider the Philippines as a country that falls into the previous statement’s

description. “Being an Eldest Child in a Typical Filipino Family”, an article published on

2022 by Angelo Francisco states the burdens, pressures, and expectations that are painted

on a Filipino household’s eldest children’s being, emphasizing the common stereotypes,

and gender and biased roles thrown upon the female eldest children. They are viewed as

the bread winner of the family whom can help them get out of their life- situation crisis

since in this times, the practice of the father being the provider of the family have been in

transition to being the role of the eldest children. Worst- case scenario is that how they

can be forced to sacrifice their dreams and studies for their younger siblings.
 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

On other point, the social media has been an environment where people are given

freedom to express their thoughts to vent themselves. Most of the time, validation and

having people to relate to this situation pushes eldest children to convey theirselves. The

digital age impacts people more than the society can ever imagine and eldest children, as

being part of this generation, it is likely that their perception about the topic is somehow

affected by what they consume on the internet that talks about the eldest children and

their perception and experience on treatment disparity from their parents.

While the preceding statements are true, it becomes a major influence that

develops the self- parenting and independency traits of the eldest children since they are

believed to be their siblings’ second parent, let alone grew up with burden of setting

themselves up as a perfect role model for their younger siblings. The moment that their

other siblings were born, their parents’ attention becomes undivided, at frequent times,

much lesser attention for the eldest child because parents tends to see their first born as

self- reliant. Consequently, eldest children has the likelihood to develop and grow faster

than their younger siblings.

The perceived characteristics among them leaves a valuable imprint to the

development of their strong facade that are oftenly mistaken as their true self. Eldest

children learned to see themselves as individuals who are always reliable and strong-

minded which is why they are prone to overlooking their emotions and theirselves

because they believed they should not be weak.

 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

Therefore, with all of these factors combined, it contributed to the shaping

constituents of the eldest children’s persona and role that gives light to the research

problem that the researchers aim to discuss. Likely, parents defines their eldest children

on these narratives. Due to the connotations perceived on eldest children, treatment

disparities among their siblings can be observed. They may be given less affection and

recognition.

In the mean time, the researchers have chosen the Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng

Lucena (DLL) as the research locale of their study since the institution is known to cater

numbers of students whose age range are classified to be old. It will be advantageous and

efficient to gather data that will suffice the research because the researchers are already

familiar with the institution.

Simplifying, the chosen respondents of the researchers are the students from the

different programs in Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng Lucena (DLL) who are the eldest child

of their families, taken into consideration is whether if they have more than one younger

sibling and whether they live with their parent/s. Furthermore, the researchers also

determined to have respondents from social media who are also their families’ eldest

child as this topic is more heavily discussed on different social media platforms these

days.
 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to explore the Perspective of the Eldest Children on the Strong

Facade Projected on them as a Treatment Disparity among Other Siblings.

Thus, this study shall sought to answer the following questions:

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

a) Sex

b) Religion

2. What are the different perspectives of eldest children in regards to the strong

personality projected on them as a treatment disparity among their other siblings which

potentially affects their functioning in terms of:

a) Family- relationship Level

b) Academic Level

c) Socialization

3. Is there a significant difference on how parents treat their eldest child and how they

treat their other children?

4. Does grouping the respondents’ demographic profile affects how parents treat their

eldest children?
 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

Significance of the Study

This study centers on the view of the eldest children on their parents as a strong

and independent individual to take on a responsible role that leads to the differential

treatment of parents compared to their younger siblings. The results of this study will be

beneficial to the following:

To the Eldest Children. This study will give the eldest children an awareness

about the perception of being a strong individual because they are the first born child in

their family. This provide an understanding about the family dynamics, societal

expectations, and the influences of birth order to their personality traits.

To the Parents. This study will help the parents to determine the view of their

eldest child in the perception of being a strong and independent individual that takes the

responsible role as the eldest child. This can also help to the parenting practices of the

parents in handling their children and to maintain their relationship toward to their child.

To Social Work Department/Students. This study will help the Social Work

Department/Students to provide an insight about the treatment of the family about the

perception of the eldest children as a strong and independent individual. It can help to

provide awareness about the impact of this perception to the identity development and the

family dynamics, in the behavior and the relationship of the parents to their children.
 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

To Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng Lucena. This study will give awareness about

the perception of the parents to the eldest children as the strong and independent

individual that takes the responsible role, the school can provide support and

interventions for the needs and challenges of the eldest children students.

To Social Media Users. The data collected in this study will give the social

media users a wider perspective concerning the eldest children and the personality that

they developed as they grow, hence, the treatment disparity among other siblings which

can contribute to their realizations regarding the topic.

To Future Researchers. This study may help the future researchers to be used as

a valuable reference in conducting research related to the topic: Perception in the Eldest

Children as a Strong and Independent Individuals.

Scope and Limitation

This study entitled “Self- Parenting and Independency: Perceptions on the Strong

Facade Projected on Eldest Children as a Treatment Disparity among Other Siblings”

focuses on exploring the perception of eldest children about the strong personality

perceived on them which impacts their development and the treatment disparity that may

be observed.
 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

This study is conducted at the Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng Lucena (DLL), a

public institution that offers college programs to students which caters large number of

individuals from different families.

The chosen respondents of the researchers for this study is the number of selected

students of the Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng Lucena and selected social media users who

are the eldest child among the family. The researchers use purposive sampling for the

selection of respondents because the study requires the insights and participation of eldest

children or the first borns of their family.

The data is collected by open- ended survey questionnaire which is produced by

the researchers. It contains set of open- ended questions that asks the respondents about

their perceptions and experience of being the eldest child which are relevant to analyzing

and findings of the study.

As to its limitations, the study did not include a non- eldest in their family (i.e,

people who’s second child, middle child and so on in the family). This study only

focused on the eldest child among the siblings.

The time frame of the study was from year 2023 to year 2024.
 DALUBHASAAN NG LUNGSOD NG LUCENA
(Formerly City College of Lucena)
Isabang, Lucena City
Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program

Definition of Terms