Janvier Rugira
Cross-cultural research brings attention to an overarching number of psychological variables such as, amongst others, values, social axioms, cultural tightness/ looseness, cultural orientation and religion, in the report of differences among populations. These psychological variables are often regarded as universal, overlapping nations in different parts of the world. However, recent research observes that as much as human experiences are universal, increased attention needs to be paid to culturally embedded distinctions that emerge from people’s description and experiences in their personal context. This study explores the relationship between family values and ethnonationalism in relation to East Africa (sub-Saharan), with specific focus on Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia. Examination of the instruments was done through the use of SPSS (version 23). The results indicated that the sub-scales could not be combined to form a total scale score because both ethhnonationalism scale and family values scale had Cronbach’s Alpha reliability statistics less than (0.70) and Inter-Item Correlations mean statistics less than (0.20), thus the correlations between the instruments and comparisons between groups needed to be conducted at subscale level. Analysis yielded the following results; there was no correlation between ethnonationalism-theory and family values-hierarchy; there was a weak, positive correlation between ethnonationalism-theory and family-values-relationships; there was no correlation between ethnonationalism-multicultural civic nation and family values-hierarchy; and there was a weak, positive correlation between ethnonationalism-multicultural civic nation and family values-relationships. Recommendations for future research include increasing the number of items in, particularly, the ethnonationalism scale, as neither subscale, one consisting of two items and the other of four items, could be verified as reliable using Cronbach’s Alpha reliability statistic. Similarly, one can consider an equal proportion of participants from different groups, thus increasing the likelihood of finding comprehensive differences or further confirming the claim that no significant differences exist within a particular context. Lastly, replicating the use of the same instruments but ensuring a wider age range of participants might promote understand of why, for example, the patterns observed in family values-hierarchy differ so much from the other sub-scales and how this might differ for the elderly compared to the youthful population.
