RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND COUNSELLING STUDENTS’ CYBER-BULLYING BEHAVIOURS IN UNIVERSITIES IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This  study   examined   the   relationship   between   social  media   use   and counselling students’ cyber-bullying behaviours  in public universities in Anambra  State.  Three  research  questions  guided  the  study  while one  null hypothesis  were  tested  at  0.05  level of significance. The  study  adopted a correlational survey research  design. The population  of this study comprised all the guidance  and  counselling students  in public universities in Anambra State which includes; Nnamdi  Azikiwe University, Awka and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu  Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus.  The purposive  sampling was used to select 150 Guidance  and Counselling students in the two public universities.  Purposive  sampling  was  used  to  ensure  that  the  respondents were  400  level students.  A validated structured  questionnaire titled Social Media Use and  Cyber-Bullying Questionnaire” (SMUCBP). The instrument was divided into two sections; A and  B. The Cronbach  Alpha was used  to determine   the  internal  consistency  of  two  instruments  and  they  yielded values  of 0.78  and  0.82.  Frequency  counts  and  percentages  were used  to answer   research   questions   1   and   2   while  Pearson    Product   Moment Correlation  was used  to answer  research  question  3. Linear regression  was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level. The finding revealed that more than  80% of counselling students  have  high social media  usage while more than  60% of counselling students  experience  high cyber-bullying. The study found out that there is a positive significant relationship between  social media scores and counselling students’ cyber-bullying scores in public universities  in  Anambra  State.  Based  on  the  finding  of the  study,  it was recommended amongst  others  that  guidance  counselors  need  to  organize orientation  programmes   and  workshops  on  how  social  media  usage  can affect their social behavior  negatively  and  always try to develop  a positive behaviour