The global outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted all systems essential to human life and wellbeing (Masten & Motto-Stefanidi, 2020). The complex combination of health and economic stressors together with difficulty accessing protective factors may impact the family system in particular. Families differ in their responses to stressors (Bonanno et al., 2010), and the way in which families adjust to events and transitions related to the pandemic may be related to the distress perceived by children and their long-term wellbeing (Felix et al., 2013).This symposium will examine whether and through which processes families adjust during the global outbreak of COVID-19. We explore 2 research questions: 1)What did families do during the pandemic to maintain resilience? 2)What are the main protective and risk factors within the family context that are related to children’s and adolescents’ adjustment during this stressful and potentially traumatic event?Three strengths characterize the symposium. First, longitudinal designs with pre- and post-onset measurements enabled us to capture the dynamic nature of changes impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Second, the global nature of the outbreak is represented in cross-cultural perspective to understand commonalities and specificities of the processes activated by the event in different countries from Europe, North America, and Asia. Finally, mechanisms of resiliency and vulnerability examining the adjustment of the family members are assessed through longitudinal moderation and mediation analyses.