Research has shown parental alcoholism associated with problems among their children, who may show difficulties in school or more severe problems, such as psychological dysfunction. Longitudinal studies of children of alcoholics in a community context are rare and are of special interest because they provide the opportunity to study families with alcoholic parents who do not reach clinical settings and offspring who do get professional help. This study reports on 65 offspring of alcoholics who were chosen from the Kauai Longitudinal study. The extensive data were obtained through both questionnaires and interviews of both children and adults and collected over a 30-year period. Ratings of the quality of adult adaptation were based on both the individuals’ self evaluations and on their record in the community at age 31 or 32. In regards to protective factors in the caregiving environment, there were no significant differences in social class between the offspring of alcoholics who did and those who did not develop serious coping problems in later life. Individuals who coped effectively with the trauma of growing up in an alcoholic family and who became competent, confident, and caring adults relied on a significantly larger number of sources of support in their childhood and youth than did offspring of alcoholics with coping problems. When the links between protective factors within the individual and outside sources of support were examined, a certain continuity was noted that appeared in the life course of the high-risk men and women who successfully overcame a variety of childhood adversities. The research shows that if a parent is incapacitated or unavailable, other persons in a youth’s life can play an enabling role; these ties need to be encouraged and strengthened. References