IFE PsychologIA : An International Journal - Volume 8, Issue 1, March 2000

The paper draws on recent research on violence against women in Ghana in order to explore women's experiences of it. It examines ways in which women define violence, how violence against women has been documented in the country, its causes, and women's responses to it. It is suggested that there is a complex set of social values and attitudes at work in the society which demeans women and provides cultural supports for aggression against women. Women tend to tolerate engendered violence because they internalise the gender ideology that puts them down and succumb to pressure to conform to social attitudes that reflect the acceptance of gender stereotypes and protect the status of men. There is some resistance from women, which shows that there is a small but growing sense that there is a need for change. It is argued that there is a need for public education, much more research on gender based violence and legislation to empower agencies that work in the area in order to control gender based violence.

Between 1980 and 1985 when the Nigerian University System was still relatively robust in terms of staff/student ratio, leqel of funding and quality of teaching, 322 graduate-students completed the University of Lagos Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree programme. These students who came mainly from six faculties, namely social sciences, business administration, biological science, engineering, physical sciences and earth sciences had their scores on the various courses extracted, totaled and then averaged on a faculty by faculty basis.

The vocational interest profiles and career preferences of seventy-nine newly admitted psychology majors were investigated during their first year. There were forty females and thirty-nine males with their ages ranging from sixteen to thirty-two years. Mean age of the sample was 21.5 years. Given that most of the students (about 80%) did not choose to study Psychology but only found themselves on the programme because they failed to gain admission for their preferred courses, these preliminary findings are discussed in terms of their implications for career guidance and counselling as well as for their impact on curriculum and training.

This study attempts to contribute to the dearth of knowledge on depression in black children in South Africa. The authors present information on children from the African, Indian and Coloured communities (N=38) with a diagnoses of depression. The most common presenting symptoms were poor school performance and enuresis. Identifiable stresses most common in these groups were family related. The results and its implications are discussed.

This study investigated self esteem and life satisfaction among Liberian refugees in Ghana. A total of 90 refugees (45 males and 45 females) participated in the study. By use of questionnaires, it was found that majority of refugees are not satisfied with their present life. It was further observed that males generally indicated they were more satisfied with life than females. No significant difference was found between males and females regarding self-esteem. A positive correlation was however found between self-esteem and life satisfaction. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The study investigated the relationship between cultural belief about the external causes of ill-health and somatization disorder. To achieve this, one hundred and twenty (120) research participants were incidentally drawn from the Fer-community. They were divided into six groups of twenty each of African Traditional Religionists, Christians, males, females, educated and uneducated. The investigation revealed that all the groups believe in the external causes of ill health though in varying degrees. It was also discovered that there were insignificant relationship between belief in the external causes of ill-health and the actual presence of somatization disorder in all the groups, except for the christians (r =. 77 P<.05).

Education of the hearing impaired in Nigeria had gone through stages of ""Darkness"", ""Twilight"", and ""Dawn"" as in other countries of the world. Superstitious beliefs about hearing impaired people exercise strong influence on public attitudes toward then and their subsequent education. The advent of the missionaries into the area of education of special needs children had been the forerunner of public awareness of the possibility of training and educating them in Nigeria. A great improvement has been made since the first attempt. The increased interest in the establishment of institutions for the hearing impaired individuals is a mark of the success already achieved and a portrayer of future trend toward delivery of sound and quality education for the hearing impaired in Nigeria.

The paper takes a strong position that the absence of a clearly demarcated nomination stage in the procedure for selecting children with the gifted potential in Nigeria is a serious drawback in the technical adequacy of the identification scheme in use. Justifying the need for an empirically validated nomination procedure for the identification of gifted children in Nigeria, an attempt is made to descriptionbe the procedure followed for developing and trying two versions of an Outstanding Students Nomination Inventory (for peers and teachers). Summary of data collated as empirical evidence of the validity and reliability of the instrument is then recommended for further national field testing and including in the instruments used for selecting gifted children in Nigeria.

The following study investigated the relationship between family food income and dietary intake and how these affect the nutritional status of infants. The study was also aimed at identifying differences in the pattern of these relationships among rural and urban subgroups within the same society. The sample comprised 211 Nigerian infants and their families. The mean age of the children was 23.8 months with a range of 19 to 32 months.

Six groups of adolescent students selected on the basis of sex, age, grade levels, residential status, academic programmes, and academic/vocational ambitions were assessed on the perspective of their concern for their career guidance and counselling needs, namely self-awareness, vocational information and career decision making skills.Findings revealed that adolescent students perceived their career guidance and counselling needs. Results also revealed significant differences in perceptions of adolescent students on the basis of sex, grade levels, age, and academic programmes.

Certain economic, social, political and occupational conditions in present-day Nigeria make some psychological demands imperative in the bid to educate the Nigeria youth. This paper points out that the prevailing austere conditions, mass unemployment, the perverted societal values, the political awareness and sophistication among the youth call for some psychological strategies in educating them. The need to expose the youth to some coping mechanisms like value clarification, morale boosting, occupational choice flexibility technique, and some creativity-oriented but austerity-proof activities are also discussed.

This paper deals with the community perception of male sterilization in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The need to broaden contraction base and involve males in family planning decision prompted the study. Vasectomy which is the only modern contraception for males apart from condom, is a quick and simple procedure which offers much effectiveness, permanent protection, convenience, little risk of complications, no longer term effect on a person's health and sexual perfomance and no health risk for the partner. Inspite of all these, vasectomy is hardly popular in Ghana hence the study.