Association of self-esteem and school connectedness with substance use among street children in southwestern Nigeria

The study aimed to determine the relationship between substance use, self-esteem and school connectedness among street children in southwestern Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey of 358 street children in Oyo State Nigeria, was carried out. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Appropriate scoring systems were used to assess the degree of self-esteem and school connectedness. The 50^th centile was used as the cutoff point to define good self-esteem and school connectedness. Participants were aged 9–17 years, with a mean age of 16.2 ± 1.3 years; 208 (58.1%) were males. More than three-quarters (77.9%) had used psychoactive substances at some point in their lives, with local (herbal) psychoactive substances being the most frequent, followed by central nervous system depressants. One hundred and eighty (50.3%) of them were currently using psychoactive substances. The females had better self-esteem and school connectedness compared with the males, whereas substance use was more prevalent among the males. Good school connectedness was associated with lower use of psychoactive substances, but good self-esteem was associated only with reduced use of inhalants. Promoting good school connectedness among street children may help in reducing the use of psychoactive substances among them.