The sample surveyed in 1995 consisted of 2,078 youth in the 10th grade. The questionnaire included the psychological health items from the Maudsley Addiction Profile; the Rapid Alcohol Problem Screen; and constructed measures for the assessment of drug attitudes, drug education attitudes, problem behaviors, and educational aspirations. A total of 126 youth reported the lifetime use of volatile substances (6 percent of the sample); mean age at first use was 12.6 years. Logistic regression analysis found that lifetime use of volatile substances was associated with more frequent cigarette smoking and more frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages in the previous month. Lifetime use of volatile substances was also associated with higher levels of anxiety, greater involvement in delinquent acts, and lower levels of educational aspirations. More frequent users of volatile substances had higher levels of psychological distress and engaged in more frequent delinquent behavior generally. These findings suggest that volatile substance abuse should not be regarded as an isolated behavioral problem, but rather is typically associated with poor educational performance and delinquent behavior. 3 tables and 21 references