“Blessings or Burdens”: Perceived Values and Disvalues of Children Among Married Filipino Millennials

Children are perceived to carry meanings that either enrich or burden the lives of their parents, but limited studies have examined the perceived values and disvalues of children in the contemporary Filipino context. To address this gap, a survey was conducted among a hundred married Filipino millennials recruited through various social media platforms. The study investigated whether there were significant differences in child-related values and disvalues based on marital role (husbands or wives), parental status (with or without children), and parenting efficacy (moderate or high). Hotelling’s T2 results revealed no significant differences between husbands and wives in their combined scores across the six value dimensions, suggesting increasingly egalitarian attitudes toward parenting roles. However, traditional gendered perceptions persisted where sons were associated with financial responsibility, protection, and lineage, while daughters were linked to moral guidance, emotional nurturance, and family cohesion. Significant differences emerged by parental status, with pairwise comparisons indicating parents valued happiness, love, and companionship; identity and fulfillment; and benefits to the family unit more highly. While no significant differences in disvalues were observed across marital role and parental status, a significant difference was found in the combined disvalues across levels of parenting efficacy. However, follow-up pairwise comparisons showed no significant difference in any individual disvalues. Overall, the findings reflect a collective awareness among married Filipino millennials of both the rewards and demands of raising children. However, even as an increasingly more egalitarian view of parenting and parental roles is evident, traditional gendered views of sons and daughters still persist.