Abstract

This study investigated predictors of the proliferation of cybercrime and counseling interventions for university undergraduates in Edo State. Three predictor variables – social media lifestyle adherence, unemployment concerns, and family income background were considered in this study. Three research hypotheses were tested in the study. The ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The population covered all the 57,903 undergraduate students from two public universities - University of Benin and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma only. The study population covered 1 percent of the population drawn by simple random sampling technique. A researcher developed instrument was used to collect data. The reliability of the instrument had an overall reliability of 0.82 to 0.89 were obtained for all the variables. Data collected was analysed with multiple linear regression Analysis. It was uncovered that social media lifestyle adherence, and family income background has the highest influence on the proliferation of cybercrime while the proliferation of cybercrime while unemployment concerns had the least significant impact. Some counselling interventions were discussed as it borders on reorientation and information of undergraduates. It was recommended that the media should be regulated by the government and agencies in charge of broadcasting and media in other to ensure that only informative and educative contents are promoted through influencers and celebrities