(i) Parental and home background: Parents who are members of secret cults will not see anything wrong with their children's involvement in cultism. Parents may encourage their children to join cults so that they may maintain the traditional titles that have been given to the former. Children from broken homes may also find solace in cultism.
(ii) Societal decay: There is the mad rush to acquire wealth and power. Some powerful members of the society recruit young people to perpetrate heinous crimes and can escape the long arms of the law. They are the fraudsters, kidnappers, ritual killers, etc. Children who grow up in this kind of environment may see nothing wrong with cult activities that involve maiming and killing of innocent people.
(iii) Emotional sickness: Children who have emotional sickness tend to be depressed and frustrated with life. In an attempt to express their anger against neglect, they may join cults to unleash terror on the society that has caused them emotional distress.
(iv) Peer group influence: Motivation for joining cults may come from peer group influence. Some students have become cultists because their friends lured them into joining. (v) Support given by staff of educational institutions: In some institutions, some officials and lecturers are sponsors and members of secret cults. The student cultists are used against other members of the community to promote selfish interests.
(vi) Government's lukewarm attitude: When the government of a country fails to apply sanctions against cultists, cultists will thrive.
(vii) Unconducive learning environment: A learning environment lacking necessary facilities can frustrate students academically. Because of the craze for certificates, such students can join cults to harass lecturers and officers so that they can be given undeserved marks.
(viii) Inadequate religious and moral instructions/education: Some parents have abandoned their responsibility in the area of moral upbringing of their children because of the craze for material wealth. They hardly show interest in the progress of their children's academic activities. Such parents rarely attend parents' fora and meetings. Educational institutions teach religious studies just for students to pass examinations without emphasising the moral lessons that can be learnt from such topics. The hearts of many young ones are therefore left for the devil to manipulate. Some religious leaders are not showing good examples to the younger generation.
(ix) Mass media: The m_ ass media also expose young ones to all kinds of negative behaviour. There is the importation of magical films, occultic literature and obscene behaviour. This also aids cultism in the school system