Elias Mpofu

Cultural Dimensions, Gender, and the Nature of Self-concept: A Fourteen-country Study

Ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with 20 areas of the self were obtained from 3604 first or second year social science undergraduates from 14 countries (15 cultures). Factor analysis at the culture by gender level supported four factors for both sets of ratings. The resulting factor scores were analyzed for mean differences according to the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism by Gender and by correlations with other cultural dimenions and economic indicators. It was found that participants from the 10 collectivist cultures placed greater salience for their self-concepts on “family values” than did those from the individualist cultures. However, this cultural difference was not found for “social relationships”. The expected gender differences, with females valuing “family values” and “social relationships” more highly, were found only for the individualist countries. The findings indicate that there may be a strong cultural level interaction effect between gender and Individualism-Collectivism on the nature of self-conceptions, and that the “family” and “social” aspects of self-concept in collectivist countries need to be considered separately.

Exploring the Self-Concept in an African Culture

Self-concept orientations (individualistic, collectivistic, and moralistic) were examined for 210 Zimbabwe college students of a Shona cultural background. Although the students tended to endorse an individualistic self-concept orientation to a significant extent, the women and the older students were more inclined to perceive of the self-concept as collectivistic and moralistic in orientation. Implications for self-concept models for African cultures and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure Scores in a Sample of Adolescents From Zimbabwe

This study examined the structural validity of scores on the 20-item Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Phinney, 1992) in a group of 196 students attending secondary school in Zimbabwe. MEIM scores yielded 2 factors (Ethnic Identity, or EI, and Other Group Orientation, or OGO) as in previous studies, with the EI factor being more viable. Factor analysis of the 14 EI items resulted in a single factor, in contrast to findings of previous studies. The authors suggested that the OGO factor may be less viable in majority groups, that the EI items may best be explained by a single factor, and that the MEIM would benefit from more scale development work.

Inclusive Education in Zimbabwe: Policy, Curriculum, Practice, Family, and Teacher Education Issues

Elias Mpofu, and Tsitsi Chataika Magen M. Mutepfa is senior psychologist, Wool Psychological Services and Special Education, Zimbabwe. Elias Mpofu is Professor, Rehabilitation Services, Department of Counselor Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Tsitsi Chataika, doctoral student, Department of Disability Studies, University of Sheffield and disability services coordinator. Universitv of Zimbabwe. Inclusive Education

Psychology in sub‐Saharan Africa: Challenges, prospects and promises

The experiences of African communities are significantly underrepresented in the current psychological literature as compared to those of Western European and North American communities. Professional psychology in sub-Saharan African is either nonexistent or strongly modeled after practices in North America and Western Europe. The modeling of psychology in sub-Saharan Africa on the North American and Western European experience is a result of the more extensive marketing of the Western cultural heritage around the globe by national governments, education institutions and international aid agencies vis a vis the marketing of alternative cultural heritages. It is also reflective of the historically unequal intercultural exchanges between Western and African cultural heritages and in favour of the former. A greater representation of the African experience in the psychological literature could add to the richness and global relevance of psychology. Les experiences des communautes africaines sont significative...

Health Wise South Africa: Development of a Life Skills Curriculum for Young Adults

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an international collaborative effort that aims to reduce risky behavior (e.g., substance use, risky sexual behavior) that leads to outcomes such as HIV/AIDs, pregnancy, and addictions among a sample of South African youth. Because many of these risky behaviors occur in free time, a major part of the effort was leisure education to promote positive use of free time. The program described has been pilot tested and is currently underway as a larger-scale, randomized trial in the Province of the Western Cape in South Africa. This paper describes the conceptualization and revision of the HealthWise curriculum, working with the Western Cape Education Department, and the on-going randomized trial.

Reproductive health and access to healthcare facilities: risk factors for depression and anxiety in women with an earthquake experience

BackgroundThe reproductive and mental health of women contributes significantly to their overall well-being. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals are directly related to reproductive and sexual health while mental disorders make up three of the ten leading causes of disease burden in low and middle-income countries. Among mental disorders, depression and anxiety are two of the most prevalent. In the context of slower progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals in developing countries and the ever-increasing man-made and natural disasters in these areas, it is important to understand the association between reproductive health and mental health among women with post-disaster experiences.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study with a sample of 387 women of reproductive age (15-49 years) randomly selected from the October 2005 earthquake affected areas of Pakistan. Data on reproductive health was collected using the Centers for Disease Control reproductive health assessment toolkit. Depression and anxiety were measured using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, while earthquake experiences were captured using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. The association of either depression or anxiety with socio-demographic variables, earthquake experiences, reproductive health and access to health facilities was estimated using multivariate logistic regression.ResultsPost-earthquake reproductive health events together with economic deprivation, lower family support and poorer access to health care facilities explained a significant proportion of differences in the experiencing of clinical levels of depression and anxiety. For instance, women losing resources for subsistence, separation from family and experiencing reproductive health events such as having a stillbirth, having had an abortion, having had abnormal vaginal discharge or having had genital ulcers, were at significant risk of depression and anxiety.ConclusionThe relationship between womens post-earthquake mental health and reproductive health, socio-economic status, and health care access is complex and explained largely by the socio-cultural role of women. It is suggested that interventions that consider gender differences and that are culturally appropriate are likely to reduce the incidence.

Educational and Psychological Testing in Zimbabwean Schools: Past, Present and Future

Psychoeducational testing practices in Zimbabwe can be understood in terms of the colonial heritage of the country and the democratization of the education system following Black majority rule. Regulations for psychological practice and Western-oriented psychology curricula inherited from the colonial era are elements of continuity in the countrys psychoeducational testing practices. The demands of the postindependence education dispensation that extended psychological services to native Blacks represent elements of change that challenge psychological and educational testing in the country to be more responsive to the cultural diversity. A survey of test users in educational settings in the country revealed a significant use of Western tests, although some limited progress has been made in developing local tests, particularly in the area of achievement testing. The current status of psychoeducational testing in Zimbabwe is best characterized as being in a transitional or modeling stage, entailing the app...

Sexual Partners in a Rural South African Setting1

The study investigated sexual behaviors among 1573 rural South Africans in their early and late adolescents and young adults. The participants reported their number of sexual partners and behaviors related to sexual experience, including age of their first sexual experience, use of contraceptives, use of substances, and anal sex. The data from 630 adolescents with sexual experience (males: 362; females: 268) were analyzed to test three sequential models to predict the number of sexual partners from student characteristics (i.e., demographics, use of substances, sexual behaviors). Teenagers with early sexual experience and a history of substance-use tended to have multiple sexual partners, confirming the need for targeted HIV prevention interventions for young people in South Africa.

Assessing self-esteem: An African perspective

This paper first examines the appropriateness for Kenyan students of the Self Description Questionnaire—1 [SDQ-1 (Marsh, The Self Description Questionnaire I: SDQ Manual and Research Monograph, 1988) and the Shavelson model of self-concept on which it is based. The results of an administration of the SDQ-1 to 212 Kenyan 12–13 yr olds are reported. The internal consistency reliability coefficients obtained for the scales of the SDQ-1 were encouraging and factor analysis generally supported both the specific facets of the SDQ-1 and the existence of an underlying general self-concept factor. These results are then considered in relation to other evidence of the cross-cultural validity of both the SDQ-1 and the Shavelson model of the self. Tentative comparisons of the Kenyan data to those of previously reported Australian, Nigerian, and Zimbabwean children of the same age indicated that the children sampled from the African countries were more similar in terms of self-esteem to each other than to the Australians and that there were gender × country differences in perceptions of self.