IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v6y2022i8p234-242.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence on Witchcraft Beliefs and The Psychological Well-Being of Elderly People in Masaba South Sub-County Kisii County Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • George Mayaka Nyakweba

    (Department of Counseling Psychology The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya)

  • Vincent Munywoki, phD

    (Department of Counseling Psychology The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya)

  • Maria Ntarangwe, PhD

    (Department of Counseling Psychology The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya)

Abstract

Witchcraft is a world phenomenon. Some people do belief in it on their daily life and this has brought a lot of anxiety, fear from the threats given to the victims. This study investigated the prevalence on witchcraft beliefs and psychological well-being of elderly people in Nyakumbati Sub-location in Masaba South Sub-count, Kisii County Kenya. The study adopted a mixed method approach; a convergent parallel design was employed to enable the researcher investigate the relationship between prevalence on witchcraft beliefs and the psychological well-being of elderly people. Simple random sampling was employed to select a sample of 164 respondents from the 280 elderly people receiving cash transfer from the Kenyan Government in Nyakumbati Sub-location. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using statistical Software Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22. Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient was used to ensure reliability of research instruments. The findings indicate that majority of the elderly People belief in witchcraft (56.3%). Many elderly people (48.3%) agreed that beliefs in witchcraft have interfered with relationships in the community. Also majority of the elderly people (60.3%) agreed that Witchcraft practices are dangerous in the community. Witchcraft practices are feared within the community this was taken by 61.6% of the respondents. At the same time majority of the elderly people (62.3%) agreed that Witchcraft practices are carried in hidden manners and finally 41.7% of the elderly stated that they are vulnerable to witchcraft activities. The findings on the relationship between psychological well-being and witchcraft beliefs show that there was: a weak relationship of 0.061 on self-acceptance, a moderate relationship of 0.331 on positive relations and a moderate relationship of 0.530 on purpose in life. The final findings show that there is a weak relationship between prevalence on witchcraft beliefs and the psychological well-being of elderly people. The study recommends and appeals to government leaders, educators and church stakeholders to strive further towards addressing witchcraft related issues. Additionally, social workers, counselors and psychologists should be assigned through the cooperation of church and government to cater for the psychological well-being of the elderly people in the community.

Suggested Citation

  • George Mayaka Nyakweba & Vincent Munywoki, phD & Maria Ntarangwe, PhD, 2022. "Prevalence on Witchcraft Beliefs and The Psychological Well-Being of Elderly People in Masaba South Sub-County Kisii County Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(8), pages 234-242, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:6:y:2022:i:8:p:234-242
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-6-issue-8/234-242.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/virtual-library/papers/prevalence-on-witchcraft-beliefs-and-the-psychological-well-being-of-elderly-people-in-masaba-south-sub-county-kisii-county-kenya/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kohnert, Dirk, 1996. "Magic and witchcraft: Implications for democratization and poverty-alleviating aid in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 1347-1355, August.
    2. Gershman, Boris, 2016. "Witchcraft beliefs and the erosion of social capital: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 182-208.
    3. Boris Gershman, 2021. "Witchcraft Beliefs, Social Relations, and Development," Working Papers 2021-01, American University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Voigt, Stefan, 2022. "Determinant of Social Norms," ILE Working Paper Series 58, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    2. Alidou, Sahawal & Verpoorten, Marijke, 2019. "Only women can whisper to gods: Voodoo, menopause and women’s autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 40-54.
    3. Elena Briones Alonso & Lara Cockx & Jo Swinnen, 2017. "Culture and food security," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 591898, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    4. Cheng Huang & Xiaojing Ma & Shiying Zhang & Qingguo Zhao, 2020. "Numerological preferences, timing of births and the long-term effect on schooling," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 531-554, April.
    5. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Delissaint, Diego & Fourati, Maleke & Miquel-Florensa, Josepa & Seabright, Paul, 2021. "Betting on the lord: Lotteries and religiosity in Haiti," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Emmanuelle Auriol & Julie Lassébie & Amma Panin & Eva Raiber & Paul Seabright, 2020. "God Insures those Who Pay? Formal Insurance and Religious Offerings in Ghana," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 1799-1848.
    7. Kohnert, Dirk, 1997. "L’emprise de l'occulte sur la légitimité de l'état et l'aide à la démocratisation en Afrique," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 24-50.
    8. Kohnert, Dirk & Preuss, Hans-Joachim, 2019. "Le démocracide furtif du Bénin - Comment la démocratie modèle de l'Afrique se tue peu à peu [Benin’s stealthy democracide - How Africa's model democracy commits suicide in stages]," MPRA Paper 96832, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Sascha O. Becker & Jared Rubin & Ludger Woessmann, 2023. "Religion and Growth," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-15, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. Kohnert, Dirk, 2019. "The ethics of African regional and continental integration," EconStor Preprints 205257, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    11. Bello-Bravo, Julia, 2020. "Managing biodiversity & divinities: Case study of one twenty-year humanitarian forest restoration project in Benin," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Kohnert, Dirk & Preuss, Hans-Joachim, 2019. "Benin's stealthy democracide: How Africa's model democracy kills itself bit by bit," EconStor Preprints 205259, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    13. Graziella Bertocchi & Arcangelo Dimico & Gian Luca Tedeschi, 2022. "Strangers and Foreigners: Trust and Attitudes toward Citizenship," CHILD Working Papers Series 100 JEL Classification: J, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    14. Di Falco, Salvatore & Feri, Francesco & Pin, Paolo & Vollenweider, Xavier, 2018. "Ties that bind: Network redistributive pressure and economic decisions in village economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 123-131.
    15. Peter T. Leeson & Jacob W. Russ, 2018. "Witch Trials," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(613), pages 2066-2105, August.
    16. Gershman, Boris, 2020. "Witchcraft beliefs as a cultural legacy of the Atlantic slave trade: Evidence from two continents," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    17. Gershman, Boris, 2015. "The economic origins of the evil eye belief," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 119-144.
    18. Kohnert, Dirk, 2023. "QAnon and other conspiracy ideologies’ impact on Sub-Saharan Africa in the age of Global capitalism," MPRA Paper 115917, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Jean-Philippe Platteau, 2009. "Institutional Obstacles to African Economic Development: State, Ethnicity, and Custom," Post-Print hal-00726664, HAL.
    20. Kohnert, Dirk, 2011. "Cultures of Innovation of the African Poor – Common roots, shared traits, joint prospects? On the articulation of multiple modernities in African societies and Black Diasporas in Latin America," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 241-262.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:6:y:2022:i:8:p:234-242. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.