This paper presents some results from a group of St. Louis born black males aged 31-36 who were systematically interviewed during the year 1965-66. The sample in this report is deemed a high risk population because the fathers are at very high risk for alcoholism and the children are at high risk for unfavorable school and legal outcomes independently of the father's drinking. The paper presents correlates of alcoholism in the fathers, and the consequences of the father's alcoholism for the school and police records of their children. The study demonstrates a constellation of difficult family settings in which black city reared children are likely to find themselves if they have an alcoholic father. They are more likely to be illegitimate, to have a young father and parents who have not finished high school, to live in a broken home, and to have a father who has been arrested. The association between having an alcoholic father and these circumstances can probably be explained both by intoxication's directly reducing the foresight necessary for taking adequate precautions during intercourse and by the fact that alcoholism is particularly common among men who were impulsive and sexually active youth. Each of the aspects of family life predicted by having an alcoholic father was also associated with truancy and dropout rate in the offspring of these fathers. (Author/AM)