The purpose was to investigate the effects of parental marital status and sex on the self-esteem of children by assessing differences on mean self-esteem between boys and girls of divorced families as compared to boys and girls of intact families. The mean score on self-esteem of 54 children (27 boys, 27 girls) from divorced families was compared to that for 54 children (27 boys, 27 girls) from intact families using the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventory. Using factorial analysis, a statistically significant difference was found for sex but not for type of family or its interaction with sex.