Juan Carlos Maglipon | Christian Kaye Umali | Paulene Ronquillo-Andres |
June 23, 2025
Despite the apparent trend of declining global fertility rates and fewer children per household in recent years, only children are still viewed negatively, even theorists labeled them as ‘spoiled’ and ‘maladjusted'. In Philippine society, only children frequently face societal stereotypes that depict them as isolated or emotionally underdeveloped for social interactions from their existential experiences. This research explored the lived experiences of six Filipino only children young adults residing in the Philippines regarding existential loneliness. Data was collected through face-to-face and online semi-structured interviews, and analyzed through coding and thematic analysis techniques. Five major themes and six sub-themes have emerged. The major themes are: Social Connection, Life Purpose, Focused Parental Attention, Coping Strategies to Alleviate Loneliness, and Personality, while the sub-themes are Support Received from Others, Suppressing or Displacing emotions, Engaging in Activities, Tendency to be reserved or Introverted, and Lack of Social Skills. The accounts of most participants indicated the absence of feelings of existential loneliness. It is recommended that future research should focus on identifying strategies that strengthen social engagement opportunities and explore the development and implementation of intervention programs that focus on enhancing only children’s social skills