Demographic Correlates of Cybercrime Awareness among Respondents: A Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

This study examines the association between selected demographic characteristics and cybercrime awareness among 445 mobile Internet users from five selected talukas of Surat District, Gujarat, India. Cybercrime awareness was measured using a seven-item composite scale and transformed to a 0–100 index. Area, education, gender, and age group were represented using dummy variables, with Umarpada, Graduate education, Male, and Older age group as the respective reference categories. Multiple linear regression was estimated using the Enter method. The overall model was statistically significant, F(10, 434) = 6.860, p < .001, with R² = .1365 and adjusted R² = .1166. The Breusch–Pagan diagnostic indicated heteroskedasticity; therefore, HC3 heteroskedasticity-consistent standard errors were used for final coefficient-level inference. Bardoli, Mangrol, and Female gender showed statistically significant negative associations with awareness relative to their reference categories, while Postgraduate education showed a statistically significant positive association relative to Graduate education. Up-to-School education, Mahuva, Mandvi, Doctoral/Professional education, Young, and Middle were not statistically significant at the 5% level under HC3 inference. The findings indicate adjusted observational associations rather than causal effects.

cybercrime awareness; demographic characteristics; multiple linear regression; heteroskedasticity; HC3

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