Date of Publication

8-9-2025

Document Type

Bachelor's Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in Southeast Asian Studies

Subject Categories

Migration Studies

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

International Studies

Thesis Advisor

Evangeline O. Katigbak-Montoya

Defense Panel Chair

Charmaine Misalucha Willoughby

Defense Panel Member

Ron Bridget T. Vilog

Abstract/Summary

This study investigates the influence of transnational family arrangement on the left-behind youth's emotional lives, career aspirations, and future orientations in CALABARZON, a region in the Philippines with high rates of labor out-migration. Rather than viewing migration through an economic lens, we explore the emotional, social, and aspirational impacts of prolonged parental or sibling absence due to overseas work. Drawing on in-depth interviews with five youth aged 18–26 and using the Family Resilience Model (Henry et al., 2015) as our conceptual lens, we examine how family adaptive systems, meaning-making, emotion regulation, control, maintenance, and stress response mediate youth responses to migration. We argue that the migration of a household member significantly shapes the career and migration aspirations of left-behind youth. Through a thematic analysis of participants’ narratives, we trace how migration becomes embedded in everyday meaning-making, shaping both emotional coping and long-term aspirations. The findings reveal that while remittances enable educational access and household stability, they also carry symbolic weight that influences youth aspirations and emotional well-being. Participants reported experiencing early role assumption, emotional compromise, and aspirational friction, navigating between gratitude and pressure, sacrifice and resistance. We posit that youth in transnational households are not passive recipients of migration's effects but active agents who reinterpret, emulate, or challenge the migration narrative in shaping their futures. This study fills critical research gaps by amplifying localized, youth-centered voices and re-framing migration not merely as an economic act but as a deeply affective, relational, and generational process. It offers a grounded view of how migration reshapes relationships and life goals, highlighting its long-term social impacts on youth.

Keywords: Transnational migration; left-behind youth; career aspirations; family resilience; remittances; CALABARZON; youth agency

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Keywords

Transnationalism; Foreign workers' families--Philippines; Migrant remittances--Philippines; Emigrant remittances--Philippines

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Embargo Period

8-18-2025

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