Philippine E-Journals

The Lived Experiences of Out-of-School Youth in Pursuit of their Dreams while Living in Poverty

Rosalyn Bianco | Reanne Carmel Mariquit | Alfonso Miguel Platon | Mona L. Laya

Discipline: Psychology

 

Abstract:

The out-of-school youth who are living in poverty experience a lot of challenges usually uncommon for a young adult at their age. They are forced to stop in their schooling; others try to find work and balance work and education at the same time. Some were successful but some failed. The study used phenomenological design, there were 5 out of school youth and 2 barangay officials residing in Bucana, Davao City who participated in the in depth interview. The study was anchored to the social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura which states that there is a reciprocal causation between the behavior, cognition and other personal factors, environment influences all operate as interacting determinant that influence each other. The study implied that the out of school youth living in poverty are not passive victims of poverty, they are aware of the hardships and the things they sacrifice. They have the willingness to go back to school because they see the value of education in fighting against poverty. However, they are vulnerable and may be influence by their environment to either let go of their dreams or strive harder to achieve it.