The study found that high levels of self-derogation and peer approval of drug use were positively related to drug dependence measured almost 9 years later. When initial data were collected, only 5.4 percent of the sample reported previous drug use, which establishes that self-derogation and peer approval of drug use preceded the beginning of drug use for most of the sample. The findings indicate the importance of examining the presence of these risk factors from early adolescence and into young adulthood. The study sample was drawn from previous longitudinal research based in the Miami-Dade public school system. Time 1 data were obtained from students in grades six and seven, when the mean age of the sample was 11.6 years old. Time 3 data were obtained again 2 years later during grades eight and nine. Completed questionnaires were obtained from 7,386 of the 10,432 prospective participants at wave 1, 6,646 at time 2, and 5,924 at time 3. Time 1 participants were representative of the population from which they were drawn; this was also true for the time 3 participants, despite an attrition of nearly 20 percent across the three data points. Drug dependence was measured as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. 1 figure, 2 tables, 28 references, and appended study measures