In order to specify in detail the nature of the experience of "latchkey" children, 53 children left at home after school without adult supervision and 32 continuously supervised children were interviewed in a study conducted in an all-black, parochial school. Study group subjects were every latchkey child enrolled in grades one through six and constituted 34 per cent of the total student enrollment in these six grades. A comparison group was formed by collecting a representative sample of children who were supervised by an adult when not in school. After an overview of social change since 1940 to the present and its impact on the American family, findings are presented first in terms of differences between latchkey children left alone and latchkey children left with siblings, and second, in terms of differences between unsupervised children and supervised children. Findings discussed include the importance of keys, the nature of parental instructions, chores, home routines, outside play, having friends over, illness, summertime and holidays, and fears. It was found, for example, that more than 30 per cent of the children left alone reported high levels of fear and that the most common method for coping with fear used by latchkey children was hiding. Not a single child in the adult supervised group was classed in the high-fear category. Additional findings are discussed and eight conclusions about the experience of latchkey children are presented. (Author/RH)