Filipino-American Psychology

For those of you who were able to attend the talk with Kevin Nadal hosted by AARCC in October, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Mr. Nadal was a charming speaker, and I ended up learning a lot about how our history has influenced some of our specific Filipino behaviors. For those of you who were most weren’t able to make it (you missed out :P), here’s a recap of topics that were covered in the session:

Filipinos were colonized and therefore influenced by two different entities: the Spanish (for 350 years) and the United States (for 50 years). This mixture of different languages, traditions, and phenotypes gives us the Filipino culture that we see today – a culture that is rich and vibrant in flavors and sounds.


Indios. The native inhabitants of the Philippines were very much segregated for most of its existence until it was forced to identify as one group under the Spanish rule. These natives held indigenous values which are very much apparent in our lives today:

·Kapwa. Kapwa is the spirit, and the interconnectedness that we as a culture have – just by the virtue of us being Filipino. Have you ever noticed the camaraderie that emanates when we come together in a large group? Have you ever felt a connection to a pinay or pinay that you may have just met? That is the presence of Kapwa in our lives.

·Debt of the Heart. There’s a term for debt of the heart in Tagalog that was mentioned during the talk – but I’m half deaf and hardly fluent so someone should definitely find out what it is for me, tell me at the next body meeting, and then obtain a sweet reward. Anyway – This value means that the community, more specifically the family, comes first. The elder (your nanay or tatay) has authority over the family and they are highly esteemed.

·Hiya. Shame. Guilt. Stigma. This hiya is no doubt present in my life. It dictates our decisions and the way we live our lives. We live in the fear that we might end up bringing shame to our families. So we obey: we go to college and work to become people whom our families will respect and admire. If you got pregnant right now girls, how would your parents feel? Most importantly, how would you feel? Yep. That’s hiya.

Now, Mr. Nadal was sure to mention these three values because while their presence in the lives of Filipinos many them apart from other cultures, it is not necessarily always for the best. For example, did you know that Filipino-American girls have the highest depression rate out of all the other ethnicities in this country? This high depression rate is attributed to the fact that these young Filipina girls are not getting the help that they need. They are so ashamed to tell their families about their suffering, that they tend to keep it all to themselves instead of seeking help.

Stay tuned for Part II – Where I'll recap the Spanish influence on our culture.
God bless,

Kristine Arboleda
Cultural Awareness Chair