Family is the smallest institution in human society.

Familys role is
crucial in human development because it serves as the first level of support
system for its members. Because of the importance of the family, the
Philippines 1986 constitution had a separate article about it.
Aside from giving political importance, the Philippines are also known
for having a culture of close family ties. Every Filipino family looks into the
welfare of their members, especially in education. Traditionally in the
Philippines, graduation photos and diplomas of their children from
elementary up to college level are posted in every house, believing that
education is the greatest gift that a parent could give.
As time goes by, changes and challenges are being faced by every
Filipino family. According to the National Statistics Authority of the
Philippines, one in ten young Filipino women age 15-19 has begun
childbearing, 8 percent are already mothers and another 2 percent are
pregnant with their first child. Among young adult women age 20 to 24, 43
percent are already mothers and 4 percent are pregnant with their first child.
It is more common among young adult women age 15 to 24 with less
education than among those with higher education (44 percent for women
with elementary education versus 21 percent for women with college
education). Early childbearing is also more common in Caraga (38 percent)
and Cagayan Valley (37 percent) than other regions. The proportion of young
adult women who have begun childbearing is higher among those classified
as belonging to poor households than those in wealthier households (37
percent for young women in the lowest wealth quintile versus 13 percent for
women in the highest wealth quintile) This shows that families with young
uneducated parents are on the rise in the country.
Another current problem is the poverty among Filipino families. About
11.4 million families remained poor in the first quarter of the year, while
some 7.9 million Filipinos rated themselves food-poor, according to the Social
Weather Stations (SWS) self-rated poverty survey. The self-rated poverty
threshold is defined as the monthly budget that households need in order not

to consider themselves poor, while self-rated food poverty is the monthly

food budget needed to consider themselves not poor. Across areas, selfrated poverty decreased by 12 points in Metro Manila (31 percent from 43
percent) and a point in the rest of Luzon (44 percent from 45 percent), but
went up slightly in the Visayas (70 percent from 65 percent) and Mindanao
(62 percent from 60 percent). Meanwhile, according to the Philippine
Statistics Authority, The subsistence incidence among Filipino families, or the
proportion of Filipino families in extreme poverty, was estimated at 9.2
percent during the first semester of 2015. In the same period in 2012, the
proportion of families in extreme poverty was recorded at 10.0 percent. In
the first semester of 2015, on the average, incomes of poor families were
short by 29.0 percent of the poverty threshold. This means that on the
average, an additional monthly income of Php 2,649 is needed by a poor
family with five members in order to move out of poverty in the first
semester of 2015.
Aside from that, the number of single-headed households is now 13.9
million according to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. These
single-headed households are due to separation of parents of one of the
parents are working outside of the country. Teenage parents, poverty and
single-headed households are currently the issues that affect Filipino families
and possible parenting styles to their children. This research seeks to look for
possible relationship on how the structure of a family affects the childrens
performance and behavior in school.