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SOCIAL VALUES AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AFRICA *
Author(s) -
Myambo Kathleen
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207599008247926
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , coping (psychology) , socioeconomics , stressor , cash crop , psychology , agriculture , cash , population , rural development , economic growth , developing country , geography , sociology , demography , economics , clinical psychology , archaeology , psychiatry , macroeconomics
This study was conducted in Southern Africa in the country of Zimbabwe where 75% of the population reside in economically underdeveloped rural areas. Two groups of rural‐dwelling subsistence farmers were interviewed in their homes with respect to life‐style, stressors and coping mechanisms. The experimental group consisted of 62 farmers who had recently moved to a newly‐developed government‐sponsored farming community and the control group consisted of 75 farmers who had been resident on their farms for an average of 15 years. The results showed that subjects in the development scheme experienced more stress than those in the control group but viewed themselves as coping adequately. The development scheme appeared to be successful from a psychological perspective in that the subjects were able to continue their traditional lifestyle as well as incorporate modern values based on a cash economy.