THE HYPOTHESIS TESTED IN THIS STUDY WAS DERIVED IN THE CONTEXT OF A GENERAL THEORY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR. PEOPLE WHO DEVELOP NEGATIVE SELF-ATTITUDES IN THEIR MEMBERSHIP GROUPS ARE SAID TO NEWLY ADOPT DEVIANT RESPONSES IN THE SERVICE OF THE SELF-ESTEEM MOTIVE AS ALTERNATIVES TO THE NOW INTRINSICALLY DISVALUED NORMATIVE RESPONSE PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRIOR DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-REJECTING ATTITUDES. DATA WERE OBTAINED IN THE COURSE OF A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM SUBJECTS PRESENT AT BOTH OF THE FIRST TWO TESTINGS. A TOTAL OF 4,694 SUBJECTS WERE STUDIED. THE QUESTIONNAIRES WERE ADMINISTERED AT ANNUAL INTERVALS. SELF-ATTITUDES WERE MEASURED BY A 7-ITEM SELF-DEROGATION SCALE. DEVIANT BEHAVIOR WAS INDICATED BY SELF REPORTS OF 22 ACTS. CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS WAS USED TO TEST THE NULL HYPOTHESIS. AS HYPOTHESIZED, AMONG STUDENTS WHO DENIED PERFORMING THE ACT DURING A PERIOD PRIOR TO THE FIRST TESTING, FOR EACH OF 22 DEVIANT ACTS, SUBJECTS WHO AT THE FIRST TESTING WERE LOW IN SELF-DEROGATION (RELATIVE TO THOSE WHO WERE MEDIUM AND HIGH) WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS LIKELY AT THE TIME OF THE SECOND TESTING TO INDICATE PERFORMANCE OF THE DEVIANT ACT DURING THE INTERVENING YEAR. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)