Community and individual sense of trust and psychological distress among the urban poor in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

BackgroundMental health disorders present significant health challenges in populations in sub Saharan Africa especially in deprived urban poor contexts. Some studies have suggested that in collectivistic societies such as most African societies people can draw on social capital to attenuate the effect of community stressors on their mental health. Global studies suggest the effect of social capital on mental disorders such as psychological distress is mixed, and emerging studies on the psychosocial characteristics of collectivistic societies suggest that mistrust and suspicion sometimes deprive people of the benefit of social capital. In this study, we argue that trust which is often measured as a component of social capital has a more direct effect on reducing community stressors in such deprived communities.MethodsData from the Urban Health and Poverty Survey (EDULINK Wave III) survey were used. The survey was conducted in 2013 in three urban poor communities in Accra: Agbogbloshie, James Town and Ussher Town. Psychological distress was measured with a symptomatic wellbeing scale. Participants’ perceptions of their neighbours’ willingness to trust, protect and assist others was used to measure community sense of trust. Participants’ willingness to ask for and receive help from neighbours was used to measure personal sense of trust. Demographic factors were controlled for. The data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate regressions.ResultsThe mean level of psychological distress among the residents was 25.5 (SD 5.5). Personal sense of trust was 8.2 (SD 2.0), and that of community sense of trust was 7.5 (SD 2.8). While community level trust was not significant, personal sense of trust significantly reduced psychological distress (B = -.2016728, t = -2.59, p < 0.010). The other factors associated with psychological distress in this model were perceived economic standing, education and locality of residence.ConclusionThis study presents evidence that more trusting individuals are significantly less likely to be psychologically distressed within deprived urban communities in Accra. Positive intra and inter individual level variables such as personal level trust and perceived relative economic standing significantly attenuated the effect of psychological distress in communities with high level neighbourhood disorder in Accra.

Is benevolence the pinnacle of an employment relations trust hierarchy?

“…Employee expectations of malevolence will make them doubt the sincerity of any sudden displays of 'benevolence' by their employers. The same behaviour forms can be expected to apply when an employer adopts the role of trustor and an employee adopts the role of trustee in employment relationships (Kushitor et al, 2018;Mayer et al, 2007;Robbins & Judge, 2017).…”

“…Trust is widely regarded as a universal foundation for harmonious and productive human relations in societies, organisations, families and close personal relationships (Covey, 2006;Firmansyah, Amelia, Jamil, & Minza, 2019;McKnight & Chervany, 2014). Mutual respect and trust in most societal relations, including employment relations, can be confidently expected to facilitate the achievement of mutually beneficial relationship objectives (Kushitor et al, 2018). Fawcett, Fawcett and Jin (2017) concluded that academic definitions of benevolence are divergent, and that the notion of benevolence is often ignored in trust-related research studies.…”

Psychological and Social Well-Being of the Urban Poor in Malaysia

“…According to De Snyder et al (2011), social vulnerability in health is due to the process of urbanization, where social inequality and exclusion are present, particularly among the urban poor. Previous research has highlighted various factors that contribute to the reduced social well-being of the urban poor, such as neighborhood disorder, community support, family support, and social exclusion (Dahlberg & McKee, 2018;García et al, 2019;Kushitor et al, 2018;Nóbrega et al, 2022). Dahlberg and McKee (2018) conducted a study that focuses on the relationship between social exclusion and psychological well-being among older adults in rural and urban areas of the United Kingdom.…”

“…This may indicate that further research is needed to explore these factors in relation to social well-being among the younger population in urban areas to prevent poor well-being in later life. Furthermore, Kushitor et al (2018) investigated the community and individual sense of trust on psychological distress among Ghanaian urban poor communities. Kushitor et al (2018) measured the community sense of trust through the perception of neighbors' willingness to trust, protect, and help others, whereas individual trust was measured by their willingness to ask and receive help from neighbors.…”

A latent profile analysis of psychological sense of community and ethnic identity among racial–ethnic minority young adults from the southwestern United States

“…There is a consensus that psychological sense of community refers to a collective experience, which is psychologically imbedded in one's thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about their community (Manzo & Perkins, 2006). And while culturally diverse BIPOC may conceptualize psychological sense of community differently, a central theme that cuts across much of this literature related to psychological sense of community is the focus on collectivism, which is described by communal sharing and living, as well as shared group identity and membership (Jason et al, 2015; Kushitor et al, 2018; Ohbuchi et al, 1999). Within this context, collective characteristics related to group connection, group solidarity, and group harmony are shared in BIPOC communities.…”