It is important to examine the correlates of drug use and abuse among early adolescents to identify common patterns and factors of the beginning stages of drug abuse. The relationships between personal substance use, health beliefs, peer use, stated intention to use drugs in the future, sex, and religion were examined using data collected from 265 early adolescents in rural northern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin. In March/April 1983 and again in January/February 1984, subjects completed a five-part survey questionnaire which measured personal drug use, health beliefs, peer drug use, intention to use drugs in the future, and demographic variables. The pretest data suggests that approximately 42% of the sample used alcohol at least one time per year, while 7% of the sample smoked cigarettes at least once a year. Only 1.5% of the total sample reported using marihuana with any frequency, and 1.9% of the students reported using cocaine. Posttest results indicated that alcohol use increased substantially over the study year, while cigarette smoking and marihuana use increased slightly and cocaine use remained the same. A positive correlation between peer drug use and personal drug use was established. In addition, a relationship was found between health beliefs and personal substance use. A revised model designed to predict substance use applied to the entire sample for whom posttest scores were available was able to account for a statistically significant amount of the variance of alcohol, marihuana, and cigarette use at the conclusion of the experiment. (NB)