“EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF TOXIC PARENTING STYLE TOWARD THE

SELECTED SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF

OUR LADY OF SACRED HEART COLLEGE”

A Qualitative Research
Presented to the Faculty of Senior High School
Department

OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART COLLEGE OF

GUIMBA, INC.

Guimba, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

In partial fulfilment of the requirements in
PRACTICAL RESEARCH

Rondon, Oscar Benjamin B.

Buenaventura, Jake Russel R.
Baguistan, Rey Mark A.
Galgao, Karyl Jane G.
Mortos, Jersey Mae V.
Conception, Ronna Angel A.

Grade 11- STEM 2- St. Valentine

Sunshine G. Enteria, LPT

Research Adviser

April 23, 2021

Date of Completion
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter of the paper presents the problem and its setting. It includes the

background of the study, statement of the problem, significance of the study, and the

scope and delimitation of the study.

Background of the Study

Not all parents are the same. Parents have different styles of parenting that they

use in order to teach, discipline, and raise a child. Each parent has their own approach

on how they educate and lead their children in successful path. It is like a domino

effect, whatever the parenting style a parent use, it affects the behavior of the child.

However, some parent’s style of parenting is toxic and unacceptable. A child that grows

up with a chaotic parent were the one who are vulnerable of acquiring psychological

conflicts and it can affect their social relationship to other.

According to Klein (2020) toxic parent isn’t a medical term or a clearly defined

concept. When people discuss toxic parents they are typically describing parents who

consistently in their children. Their actions aren’t isolated events, but patterns of

behavior that negatively shape their child’s life.

Toxic parents are characterized as self-centered, physical and verbal abuser,

manipulative, and have no boundaries. Toxic parents are one of the causes why
children acquire stress, anxiety, and/or depression. Toxic parents can cause children do

rebellion and inappropriate acts.

This study aims to explore the impacts of toxic parenting style towards selected

senior high school students. It aims to define the effects that may occur once a child

experienced or may experience a toxic parenting style. In addition, this study addresses

the question, “how the toxic parenting style affects the psychological health and social

relationship of the selected senior high school students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart

College.”

Statement of the Problem

This study attempts to explore the impacts of toxic parenting styles towards

selected senior high school of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College (S.Y. 2020-2021).

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are the effects of toxic parenting styles towards selected senior high school

students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College?

2. How toxic parenting style affects the psychological health of the selected senior

high school students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College?

3. How toxic parenting style affects the social relationship of the selected senior

high school students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College?

Significance of the Study

The finding which this study will reveal may benefit certain groups and the

benefits they may be able to gain are as follows.

Students. This study may help them to learn the impacts of toxic parenting style and

to determine the possible effects of toxic parenting style to their psychological health

and in their social relationship.

Teachers. This study may help them to learn more about the things their students are

going through, to understand why they’re behaving like that.

Parents. This research may help them understand the impacts of toxic parenting style

and to help them to be better parents to their child.

Future Researchers. The findings of this study will serves as a good source of

accurate and useful information for them.

Scope and Delimitations

The researchers are the grade eleven students from Our Lady of Sacred Heart

College conducted a study about the impacts of toxic parenting style. The researchers

choose senior high school students from Our Lady of Sacred Heart College that will

serves as their respondents to this study.

This study substantially focused on exploring the impact of toxic parenting style towards

selected senior high school students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College. The selection
of respondents is only limited since the topic were all about toxic parenting styles and

its impact to the selected senior high school students of Our Lady of Sacred College.

The researchers assure that the respondents and their answer will be confidential

because the researchers respect the privacy of their respondents. The researchers, will

respect their opinions or answer regarding to our topic.

This research is designed to widen our knowledge about the topic of the study and how

to solve and find a solution regarding to the stated problems by being aware of the

situation.
 Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

This chapter of the paper presents the review of related literature, the definition

of terms and the conceptual framework.

Foreign Literature

Hendricks (2017) states that parenting in psychology and human development

has something to do with the way the parents raise their children in order for them to

have a good development when they grew up. There are some researches and studies

that shows the significance of parenting in the development of a child. Parenting styles

gives a powerful influence to their child’s development. In the point of view of the

society if the child has a good character and performs well, it is because of the good

parenting style of his parents. On the other side, if the child has a bad character and

doesn’t perform well, it is because of the bad parenting style of his parents.

According to MOBIEG Caring in a non-caring world (2021), toxic parents are that

who usually mistreat and disrespects their children. They don’t think about the things

they do neither take their responsibilities as parents. Some cases of toxic parents are

those who have mental disorders or serious addiction which delays the growth and

development of children. It was believed that children who was raised in this kind of

parenting may do this kind of parenting when they become one. It is called

generational abuse, where familiar abuse will create a pattern and it will be repeated in

every generation.
 When it comes to children’s behavioral problems, it doesn’t receive much interest

and attention in conducting research or study. But now is the time to consider it as an

essential and very timely topic to talk about. There are some studies that shows the

correlation of parenting style and children’s behavioral problems. The study reveals that

the level (low or high) of children’s behavioral problems are mostly associated with the

different parenting style namely Authoritative, Permissive, and Authoritarian. Most

children who was raised by Authoritative parents are most likely to have less behavioral

problems and excels in his/her academic achievement. While the children who was

raised by Permissive parents are most likely to have some issues with their behavior like

they become passive and unresponsive in their social interaction. They also lack in the

sense of social responsibility and they become dependent with others. In contrast also

with the Authoritative parenting style, children who were raised with Authoritarian

parents are most likely to have problems with their behavior too. The fact that

Authoritarian parents use punishment to discipline their child (Alizadeh, et. al. 2011).

Some research concluded that toxic parenting really had a significant effect to a

child’s academic performance. Based on the data gathered and analyzed by the

researchers it reveals that children who scored high in toxic parenting are most likely to

have low academic performance rate while children who scored low in toxic parenting

are most likely to have high academic performance ratings. The study also revealed

that toxic parenting was adversely connected with the child’s academic performance

(Munya, J.K., Disiye, M.A., 2020).

 In 2004, Pellirin conducted a study and they used Baumrind’s parenting typology

to high school students reveals that the different parenting styles are the agents of

socializing. It also concluded that authoritative style of parenting produces best results

on children’s behavior and the two other contrasting style of parenting will produce

worst results on children’s behavior. Those results are also the same if the schools used

those styles to manage their schools. Authoritative schools are most likely to produce

best results in engagements. In contrast, permissive and authoritarian schools are more

likely to produce worst results like dropout.

There are also some studies who investigated the relationship between perceived

parenting styles, depersonalization, and coping behavior of a high school student. The

study revealed that the pressure coming from the parents of the students is significantly

correlated with depersonalization, trait and anxiety of the high school students. The

study also revealed that the students who grew up with an authoritarian parent are

most likely to have behavioral issue like depersonalization and anxiety. On the other

side, students who grew up with both authoritative and permissive parent have scored

the highest on active problem coping (Wolfradt, U., Hempel, S., Miles, J. N., 2003)

A study raised a notion that children who grew up with toxic parents can be a

source of toxic stress that will cause short and long-term costs in children’s well-being

including their health. It is believed that stress comes from the environment of the

family where the children were raised. It usually happens when a child was punished

and caused him pain that sometimes lead to physical abuse. But for some researchers

they consider non-abusive physical punishment can also be a source of toxic stress to
the children which may eventually affect the structure and functioning of their brain

(Gershoff, 2016).

Definition of Terms

Impact. Have a strong effect on someone or something.

Parents. Is a mother or/and father. People who parents, discipline, raise, guide their

children. People that produces offspring.

Parenting Style. Is a psychological construct representing standard strategies that

parents use in their child raising. It is the representation of how parents responds to

and make demands on their children.

Psychological Health. Is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in

health, illness, and healthcare. It is concerned with understanding how psychological,

behavioral, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and illness.

Social Relationship. Is any relationship between two or more individuals. It is derived

from individual agency form the basis of social structure and basis object for analysis by

social scientist.

Toxic. Very harmful or unpleasant in pervasive or insidious way.

Toxic Parenting Style. It inflicts on-going and repetitive trauma. Abuse, humiliation,

ill-will, disparage, shaming, belittling, and defaming children.

Toxic Parents. Parents who consistently behave in ways that cause guilt, fear, or

obligation in their children.

Conceptual Framework

The researchers came up with a conceptual framework which was presented in

figure 1, illustrating the relationship between the dependent and independent variable.

Figure No. 1

1. What are the effects of toxic

parenting styles towards selected

senior high school students of Our “Exploring The Impact of

Lady of Sacred Heart College? Toxic Parenting Style

2. How toxic parenting style affects the Towards

psychological health of the selected Selected Senior High School

Students
senior high school students of Our
Of Our Lady of Sacred
Lady of Sacred Heart College?
Heart College”
3. How toxic parenting style affects the

social relationship of the selected

senior high school students of Our

Lady of Sacred Heart College?

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

 Chapter 3

Research Methodology

This chapter includes the research design, the sample, the instruments, the data

collection procedure, and the plan for data analysis.

Research Design

To explore the impacts of toxic parenting style towards selected senior high

school students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College, a qualitative method is used,

which according to Boeree (2005), qualitative methods are methods that do not involve

measurements nor statistics. Furthermore, qualitative methods are methods that have

been in used in philosophy, sociology, and history.

In line with qualitative method, the qualitative approach used in conducting this

study is the interpretative phenomenological qualitative approach (IPA) which according

to Smith, Flower and Larkin (2009), IPA is a qualitative approach that focuses on how

people give meaning to their life experiences. Furthermore, according to Roberts

(2013), the purpose of IPA is to develop insights from firsthand accounts of research

participants. Through IPA the researcher examines and articulates the essence of

particular phenomenon in participant’s life. In addition, Rhodes et al. (2011) stated that

IPA is founded on humanistic values that give prominence on how humans encounter

and perceive experiences.

 Hence, these method and approach were used by the researchers in exploring

the impact of toxic parenting style towards selected senior high school students of Our

Lady of Sacred Heart College for the gathered data were collected, defined, described,

analyzed and interpreted.

The Sample

The study is conducted at Our Lady of Sacred Heart College, Guimba, Nueva

Ecija. The sample of the study are the selected senior high school students, in specific,

the grades eleven (11) and twelve (12) students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College,

Guimba, Nueva Ecija, during the school year 2020-2021. Furthermore, the sample of

the study should be experiencing or have been experienced toxic parenting style.

Since the study is a qualitative research, the sample is limited to ten (10)

participants. In determining the sample, the researchers used the random purposive

sampling technique which according to Patton (2002), is a technique widely used in

qualitative research for the identification and selection of information-rich cases related

to the phenomenon of interest.

The Instrument

The researchers made use of researcher-made questionnaires which dealt with

the respondents’ experiences about toxic parenting styles. It addresses the effects of

toxic parenting styles on their behavior, psychological health, and social relationship to

others. It allows the participants to share their experiences in toxic parenting styles.
 In addition, with researcher-made questionnaire, the researchers used an open-

ended questions questionnaire which is a questionnaire that used open-ended questions

which according to Farrell (2016), are questions that allows the participant of the study

to give a free-form answer.

The mentioned data-gathering instruments are used by the researchers in

gathering data which used in exploring the impacts of toxic parenting style towards the

selected senior high school students of Our Lady of Sacred Heart College.

Data-Gathering Procedure

The researchers had allotted vigorous time, effort and cooperation in developing

their questionnaire so as to serve its intended participants. The survey was created

using suitable questions modified from related research and individual questions formed

by the researchers. The used survey is an open-ended questions questionnaire and it

consist of only one (1) part which related to the participant’s experiences towards toxic

parenting style and how it affects their behavior, psychological health, and social

relationship to others.

The researcher asked first the permission of the ten (10) selected participants.

After their approval and the approval of the research adviser, the researchers

immediately sent ten (10) copies of the questionnaires to the ten (10) selected senior

high school students of Our Lady of Sacred College virtually, in the means of Google

Forms. Participants were given time to respond to the given questionnaire.

 The data gathered from the research instrument were examined, reviewed, and

categorized according to the participants’ experiences towards toxic parenting styles.

Furthermore, along with the primary data gathered, the researchers also made use of

secondary resources in the form of published articles and literatures to support the

survey results.

Plan for Data Analysis

After the researchers gathered data needed to the study, the gathered data then

review, examined, and categorized by the researchers. After the review, examination,

and categorizing of the gathered data, it is now ready to analyzed and presented.

The researchers used thematic analysis method in analyzing data which was

gathered from the questionnaire. According to Braun and Clarke (2006), thematic

analysis is a qualitative research method that can be widely used across a range of

epistemologies and research questions. It is a method for identifying, analyzing,

organizing, describing, and reporting themes found within a data set.

 Chapter 4

Presentation and Analysis of Data

This chapter includes the presentation as well as the analysis of the gathered

data from research questionnaire. This chapter also includes the re-conceptual

framework.

The Effects of Toxic Parenting Towards the Participants

The gathered data from the questionnaire shows that the participants defined

that toxic parenting styles as a parenting styles that is very unacceptable to them. The

participants mentioned that toxic parents for them are the parents that like to compare

their child, parents that are manipulative in wrong way, parents that have reacted

negatively in relation with their child, parents who are self-centered and immature, as

well as, parents who are pressuring their child to do the thing that are beyond the

abilities of their child.

After the participants defined the toxic parenting style, the gathered data

disclosed that the effects of toxic parenting styles towards the selected participants are

categorized in the two (2) aspects of their lives, in specific, it affects their psychological

health, and their social relationship to others, in general, it affects their all-over

behavior as an adolescent.

Based on the gathered data, the participants mentioned that the effects of toxic

parenting are, in their psychological health, toxic parenting styles gave them trauma
that made them feel unwanted and disowned by their own parents. It conditioned their

minds that their parents didn’t care nor love them resulting to mental health issue such

as stress, anxiety and/or depression. In their social relationship to others, the gathered

data revealed that the effects of toxic parenting style to the participants’ social

relationship has a correlation with the effects of toxic parenting style to their

psychological health. Participants stated that once they feel unwanted and disowned,

they tend to apply it also in their social life. They felt that no one will care for them

causing to them to isolate themselves that will ruin their social skills. Furthermore, Toxic

parenting styles will make them adopt the acts that their parents do and they tend to

do it in other person.

How Toxic Parenting Style Affects the Psychological Health of the

Participants?

The gathered data from the questionnaire shows that participants expressed

their experiences in toxic parenting styles and how it affects to their psychological

health. As it mentioned in the previous statement, toxic parenting styles affects the two

(2) aspects of their life which according to them is their psychological health and their

social relationship to others. One of this aspects is their psychological health.

Participants stated that toxic parenting style affects the way they perceive

themselves. They felt that they are not enough, nor important as well as pressured with

their own parents. They felt that nobody cares and nobody supports them to the

passion that they wanted. They stated that they didn’t receive the freedom that they
supposed to receive as an adolescent. As they feel that their parents are trying to fit

them into the box that they didn’t supposed to be, they experienced many

psychological conflicts that affect their health resulting in acquiring trauma, stress,

anxiety, and/or depression, or in worst, suicide.

How Toxic Parenting Style Affects the Social Relationship of the Participants

to others.

The gathered data from the questionnaire shows that participants expressed

their experiences toxic parenting styles and how it affects to their social relationship

with others. The social relationship of the participants to others are mentioned on the

questionnaire as one of the aspects of their life that has been affected by toxic

parenting styles.

Participants revealed that toxic parenting style affect in the way that their

parents gave them a lot of impact to their life and behavior that made them not to

socialize and made them feel alone. The participants disclosed that the effects of toxic

parenting style on their psychological health has a correlation between the effects of

toxic parenting style on their social relationship to others. As they experience toxic

parenting style, they start to experience many psychological conflicts, such as feeling of

unwanted, disowned, and pressure to fit in the box that they didn’t supposed to be. As

they feel those conflicts, they start to think that no one love nor care for them and start

to isolate themselves from the other person. Also toxic parenting affects the attitude of

the participants in the way that their parents compare them to other child. The
participants stated that they established hate to others causing them to ruin their social

skills and become introverts.