PSYCHIATRISTS are concerned that the feminization of labor migration that has prompted fathers to take the role of mothers is causing a negative effect on children’s behavior.

Officials of the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPA) said the continued exodus of mothers abroad is affecting the behavioral development of children of migrant workers.

Grace Macapagal, in-house psychiatrist of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for crisis intervention rehabilitation, said the feminization of labor migration is also causing a reversal of role where fathers are left to care for children and are normally not prepared to do so.

“I don’t think Filipino men are ready to evolve to that next phase,” she said adding that based on her clinical exposure, there are more children of migrant workers who experience sexual and physical abuse by male relatives.

“Minsan it’s the eldest daughter who takes up the role of the mother who is abroad. Sometimes they also take the sexual roles of the mother to some fathers,” she said.

Antonio Sison, PPA treasurer, said many fathers are not ready to take on the role of women in nurturing children.

“It’s not easy for men to accept that. Sometimes their acceptance also depends on how they’ve related to their own fathers.”

Macapagal added that migration of one parent or both is a “very painful time for children” and can cause bad emotions to “stir up.”

“It’s hard for them to express themselves so they go to the Internet or other media and develop certain mindsets.”

Felicitas Soriano, president of the PPA, reiterated the importance of conducting a study on the behavioral effects of migration on children but added that while psychiatrists are willing to do this, there is no funding to pursue the project yet.

“What will become of our children? We observe that many children of migrant workers are becoming insecure and drug dependents,” said Soriano adding that 70 percent of all Filipino migrant workers are women.

Ten percent of the Philippines’ annual deployment of labor migrants are women who work mostly as household workers and entertainers abroad.

Soriano said some children of migrant workers also become materialistic and spend their parent’s hard-earned money on gadgets and Internet gaming because of lack of guidance.

Whether it is the mother who works abroad or the father, psychiatrists warn that both have some negative effects on children left behind.

In the case of an absentee father, Macapagal said boys belonging to migrant worker families develop gender identity problems which become more “obvious when they grow old.”

“But there’s a way to make up for that, that’s the beauty of our extended family,” she said adding that other members of the family could act as surrogate parents to such children.

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PSYCHIATRISTS are concerned that the feminization of labor migration that has prompted fathers to take the role of mothers is causing a negative effect on children’s behavior.