When smoking decisions are understood in terms of the beliefs and attitudes which determine them, prevention programs can focus on changing these beliefs and attitudes. A study was conducted to measure students' attitudes and beliefs on the short-term health effects of smoking, on the social consequences of smoking, and on specific identities attained by smoking. The beliefs, values, intentions to smoke, and smoking status of students (N=2,650) in grades five through eight were assessed at one time and and again 2 weeks and 6 months later. Questionnaires were administered and a bogus pipeline technique was used to encourage valid self-reports of smoking status. The results revealed that attitude toward smoking and subjective norms accounted for a significant portion of the variance in inention to smoke. Attitude toward smoking was shown to be the best predictor of intention to smoke, intention to smoke in turn, was a significant predictor of smoking behavior. The number of friends one had who smoked and attitude toward smoking also predicted smoking behavior. Beliefs about the identities characteristic of a smoker were shown to influence smoking behavior indirectly through their influence on attitudes toward smoking. These findings have implications for prevention efforts. (NB)