Psycho-demographic factors influencing perceived family values of Residents in Mahikeng, South Africa

Abstract

Aim: The study explores how psycho-demographic variables mainly age; gender, education, emotional distance and familism influence perceived family values of residents in Mahikeng South Africa. Method: In a cross sectional research design, 300 participants; males, 161(53.7%) females, 139 ( 46.3%) were accidentally sampled with age ranging from 18-75 years in Mahikeng North-West Province, South Africa. The mean age of participants was 29.04 years with standard deviation of 12.29 years. Data were collected using The Family values scale, Emotional distance scale, and the Familism scale. Five hypotheses were tested using t-test for independent samples. Results: Early adulthood residents (M = 91.4008) were not significantly different in perceived family values compared to those of late adulthood (M = 93.9841); 1(298) = -1.111 , p = ns. Male residents (M = 92.4410) were not significantly different in perception of family values compared to female residents (M = 91.3669); 1(298) = 0.565, p = ns. Residents with middle school and below educational level (M = 92.0659) were not significantly different in perception of family values compared to those with university and above educational level (M = 91.7542); t(298) = 0.160, p = ns. However residents with low emotional distance (M = 94.6331) significantly reported positive perception of family values than those with high emotional distance (M = 88.4733); 1(298) = 3.227;p = <.01. Residents with high familism (M = 99.1939) significantly reported more positive perception of family values than those with low familism (M = 83 .0815); 1(298) = 9.687, p = <.01. Conclusion: In this study, age, gender and level of education of residents were not significant influencing factors of family values. However, emotional distance and familism were found to influence perceptions of family values in Mahikeng. In view of these findings, it is recommended particularly to those working with families that demographic factors are less important in perceptions of family value issues, rather, attention should be paid on how one is emotionally inherently involved or how close one is to family. Limitations of the study were also discussed.