Pastors' children have been thought to have more behavioral problems t
han other children since they face high expectations and are part of f
amilies that are often under public scrutiny. The purpose of this stud
y was to describe the social competencies and behavioral problems of a
national sample of pastors' children, aged 4-16, and to compare them
to age and sex standardized norms. Data were obtained on 98 children f
rom a random sample of 62 families, using the Child Behavior Checklist
. Results indicate that scores for both boys and girls at each age gro
uping fell within the acceptable norms for both social competencies an
d behavioral problems.