A 30-year longitudinal study was undertaken in order to document the course, and determine the outcome, of all pregnancies in a community of Asian Americans on Kauai, the western most of the Hawaiian Islands and equidistant from the continental United States and Japan. The project's goal was to document both the good and poor outcomes of the children's development by focusing on the children's vulnerability--susceptibility to negative environmental factors--and the roots of their resiliency--ability to cope with biological and psychosocial risk factors. The study population consisted of all live births among ethnically Hawaiian, Pilipino, and Japanese residents. Public health officials, physicians, teachers, and social workers cooperated to collect the data. Findings indicated that during the period of time which began with pregnancy and ended two decades later, the reproductive and care-taking casualities amounted to about half of those conceived and one-third of those born alive. In addition, three out of four children with four or more risk factors developed problems, while one out of four exhibited resiliency. Resilient children exhibited many stress-reducing characteristics. A follow-up study looked into resilient and high risk groups after 30 years, and determined the most stressful events and most successful coping mechanisms; the latter included: (1) genetically based dispositional attributes; (2) strong affectional ties to the family; and (3) external support systems that rewarded the individual's competencies. (SKC)