The Challenge Model: Working With Strengths in Children of Substance-Abusing Parents

Abstract

This article presents the Challenge Model, a new clinical paradigm for evaluating the children of alcoholics and other substance-abusing parents. Unlike traditional risk paradigms, the Challenge Model incorporates both the resilience and the vulnerabilities that can result when children struggle against hardship early in life. A developmental vocabulary of strengths is provided for child and adolescent psychiatrists to use in research, clinical thinking, and treatment and prevention efforts with children of alcoholics.