Mental Health Among Women In Accra: The Effects Of Religiosity, Social Support And Social Negativity

ABSTRACT The present study seeks to find out the influence of religiosity, social support, social negativity and selected demographic variables on the mental health of women in Accra. A total of two hundred (200) women living in Accra at the time of data collection were used in a cross-sectional survey. Ninety-two (46%) of the participants had a history of various mental illnesses and were reporting for review at the Accra psychiatric and Pantang hospitals. One hundred and eight (54%) had no history of mental illness and reside or work in Adenta, Madina and Legon communities. Data was collected on participants’ demographic characteristics and history of mental illness using Demographic questionnaire and Mental Health Screening Form III (MHSF-III), the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) was used to measure their mental health, religiosity, social support and social negativity were also assessed using the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSRFQ), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and Social negativity questionnaire respectively. Results from Pearson Product moment correlation, multiple regression and Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that religiosity had a significant positive relationship with psychological well-being and overall mental health index and a significant negative relationship with psychological distress. Perceived social support did not have a significant relationship with the mental health outcomes, social negativity however had significant negative influence on mental health such that those who reported high social negativity reported poorer mental health than those who reported low social negativity. Perceived stress moderated the relationship between religiosity and mental health. Among the demographic variables, only education predicted mental health significantly. History of mental illness did not make any significant difference in participants’ level of religiosity, social support and social negativity and did not moderate their influence on mental health. It was also found that  religiosity predicted more variance in psychological well-being than social negativity. Findings and limitations are discussed in relation to theories and earlier research. It is suggested that further research is needed to find out the specific mechanisms involved in the relationships between religiosity, social negativity and mental health.