The study's purpose was to determine the degree to which homogeneous rural youths living in an economically impoverished region might be vulnerable to anomia, powerlessness, and deviance given varying levels of perceived limitations in opportunity and self-ability. Comparative data relative to earlier studies in rural areas was also provided. Analysis was conducted in accordance with a specially constructed multi-causal social psychological model which provided a plausible causal argument to link the influence of structural factors and adolescents' deviant behavior through 8 social psychological and associational variables. These variables were: deviation-proneness, anomia, powerlessness, perceptions of opportunity and ability limitations, peer-group ties, parental education, and father's occupation. A structured questionnaire was administered in 1974 to 1,074 seniors (605 males and 469 females) from 9 high schools located in the Upper Cumberland Region of middle Tennessee. All respondents were white, Protestant, and living in a poor rural area. Some findings were: adolescents who perceived that the structural and personal means for their achievements were limited tended to experience greater senses of anomia and powerlessness and consequently become more deviance-prone; and the effect of peer-group ties toward deviance-proneness was highly significant, especially for males. (NQ)