The principal problem in identifying alcohol abuse as a problem for youth of alcoholic parents is that the parents tend to deny excessive drinking by their children. Problems in assessment similarly arise because parents are ill-equipped to provide a developmental history of their children's drinking. Problems in motivating the children of alcoholics to stop drinking include the absence of any conception of a better life absent the drinking. The primary problem in treatment involves the impact of any behavioral changes in the adolescent on the family system. When alcohol abuse becomes an adolescent's adaptive coping mechanism, alternatives must be developed quickly. When the adolescent alcohol abuse is eliminated, the problems of being an adolescent child of an alcoholic must be addressed. The counselor should explore the impact that parental alcoholism has had on the adolescent and on the separation and identification process that occurs in adolescence. The problems and issues identified can best be addressed within group counseling or therapy that brings together alcohol-abusing children of alcoholics. 9 references.