Data from the Michigan Longitudinal Study (MLS), an etiologic study of family risk for alcoholism over the life course, as well as findings from the first 12 years of the study suggest that etiology (study of causes and origins) is anchored in family diathesis and shaped by a wide range of experiences that structure differential developmental pathways. One pathway is marked by strong continuity of behavioral deregulation, evident during the preschool years and continuing through early adolescence. Two discontinuous pathways illustrate the shifting nature of risk and protective factors during early human development. Paternal co-morbid psychopathology, antisocial behavior, and alcoholism, play critical roles not only with respect to parent-child relationships, but also as determinants of family functioning and family stability. Implications for linking prevention efforts to developmental pathways are suggested. Children of alcoholics are found to be at least 6 times greater risk for alcohol abuse than are children with no family history of alcoholism. The MLS has been following community-recruited families for nearly two decades in a prospective study that is focused on the identification of risk and protective factors related to alcoholism over the life course. Data are collected every 3 years beginning when the children are between 3 and 5 years of age. This article summarizes findings from the MLS and represents only a sampling of the results. Findings were drawn primarily from studies involving the first four waves of data collection with children ages from 3 to 14. References