Two-thirds of UP students are single, says study

Are you single this Valentine's Day? You're not alone—especially if you're an Iskolar ng Bayan.

A study spearheaded by a University of the Philippines professor across seven UP campuses shows that a whopping 67% of students at the country's national university are currently single.

The data is part of the initial results of psychologist Dr. Ronald Del Castillo's study, a two-year project known among students as the "Diwa Mental Health Survey" (DMHS). 

The Diliman campus had the highest number of respondents declaring themselves single, followed by UP Visayas, UP Manila, UP Baguio, UP Los Baños, UP Mindanao, and UP Cebu.

UP Mental health study, "Prevalence of mental health problems among Filipino university students: a multi-site, mixed-method research," by UP Psychology Professor Dr. Ronald Del Castillo.

"The number of students that could participate in the research was intentionally targeted so that each campus was proportional to the overall student population of the entire system. Diliman is the largest in the UP System, and so it is not surprising that more students there would report being single," Del Castillo told GMA News Online in an interview.

Del Castillo said that about 1,200 participated in the study's online survey, while focus group discussions were conducted in three campuses in September and October.

The UP-based psychologist said that the data is still being analyzed, but shared some of the results in a series of infographics on social media just in time for Valentine's Day.

STEM SINGLES

The top five fields with the highest number of self-reported singles are:

• 1. Natural Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Geology)
• 2. Medical, Health and Allied Sciences
• 3. Social and Behavioral Science
• 4. Business Administration and Related Fields
• 5. Engineering and Technology

DILIMAN DATERS

The study also found that 28% of UP students are seriously dating or in a committed relationship, excluding marriage or domestic/civil partnership.

UP Diliman again had the most students in this category, but there is a shake-up in the ranks. Coming in second is UP Baguio, followed by UP Visayas, UP Los Baños, UP Mindanao, UP Manila, and UP Cebu.

The top five fields of study with the highest numbers of students who are dating or are in committed relationships are:

• 1. Social and Behavioral Science
• 2. Natural Sciences
• 3. Business Administration and Related Fields, tied with Engineering and Technology
• 4. Medical, Health and Allied
• 5. Mass Communication

THE RAINBOW

The study also classified the respondents by gender and sexual identities, including those who identify as queer, gender non-conforming or non-binary individuals, and those who identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual individuals.

The study found that 16% of UP students who reported themselves as single identify as bisexual.

Meanwhile, six percent of UP students who are dating or in a relationship self-identify as genderqueer, gender non-conforming, or non-binary.

And 23% of UP students who are dating or in a relationship are lesbian, gay or bisexual.

He also clarified that he did not disclose the exact number of students identifying themselves as being single or dating, as he is still working on a journal article about the study. — BM/BAP, GMA News