Abstract

This study examined the impacts of street hawking, single parenting and self-esteem on juvenile delinquency among adolescents in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Two hundred and twenty-one participants were selected through convenience sampling techniques from Imo Girls ‘Secondary School, Government College and City Secondary School, all in Owerri. The participants were between the ages of 13 to 18 years with a mean age of 15.19 and a standard deviation of 1.58 years. The Index of Self-esteem (ISE) and the Juvenile Delinquency Scale (JDI) were administered to participants for data collection. Three hypotheses were postulated and tested. The cross-sectional survey design was employed and the 3-Way Analysis of Variance statistic was used for data analyses. Result revealed that street hawking and self-esteem had no significant impacts on juvenile delinquency while single parenting had a significant impact on juvenile delinquency. The study recommends, among others that there is need for an affectionate and intensified campaigns for awareness on the menace of single parenting and its negative impacts on the future of the child, family and the society at large.