Although they have received little empirical attention, departures from the parental home playa significant role in demarcating the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. The currentstudy examined the extent to which various features of young adults' experiences of leavinghome differed for children of alcoholic (COAs) versus nonalcoholic parents, what adolescentprecursors might account for noted differences and what indicators of young adult adjustment arerelated to the leaving home experience. A total of 227 young adults drawn from a high-risk,community sample of COAs and matched controls were interviewed at ages 18–23 yearsregarding their prior leaving home experiences. COAs showed greater difficulties in negotiatingthis transition, fewer positive feelings about the transition, and different reasons for leaving homeas compared to participants without an alcoholic parent. Moreover, adolescent risk behaviors,family conflict, and family disorganization (assessed prior to this transition) each partly accountedfor COAs' risk for difficulty in the leaving home transition. Although certain aspects of theleaving home transition were uniquely related to young adult adjustment, future research is stillneeded to more comprehensively understand the implications for young adult developmentassociated with such individual differences in the leaving home transition.