Sense of Community and Religiosity as Predictors of Quality of Life

Africans are in the natural sense of the word truly, deeply and “notoriously” religious, of whom it can be said that they do virtually everything religiously. Religiosity and social community are significant cultural values of the African that play significant roles in their behaviour and wellbeing. This study investigated the level of religiosity and sense of community and how these predict the quality of life of Ghanaians. Data were collected from 299 farmers in a cross-sectional survey in some farming communities. Standard multiple linear regression was used to analyse the data. The results showed that religiosity and sense of social community were both significant predictors of the quality of life of the farmers. However, sense of social community was a much stronger predictor than religiosity. The findings of the study emphasized the important role that traditional family system of African societies plays in the wellbeing of their members. The findings also confirmed that the deep religious nature of the African. The importance of religiosity as a vital cultural value in the life of the African was also confirmed. The study recommended the strengthening of the traditional social ties that existed in typical African societies, but believed to have eroded over the past few years.