Role theorists maintain that good same-sex parent models are necessary for children to develop knowledge of appropriate sex roles. Cognitive theorists say that development of such knowledge depends on contact with good models, but models need not be parents. In the first phase of the study, children's knowledge of adult sex roles was determined from interviews with 213 father-absent or father-present Negro and white Head Start 4- and 5-year olds. Questions asked which sex performs certain functions, what the child would like in a "pretend" family, and who fulfills certain roles in his own family. The outstanding result was the general lack of difference between the father-absent and father-present children in preceptions of adult roles. Also indicated were (1) father-absent Negro girls minimized the male role within (but not outside) the family, and (2) Negro boys see men as responsible family participants whether or not a father is present. In the second phase of the study, samples from white and black middle income, father-present preschoolers were compared with lower class father-present children of the role study, a total sample of 105 children. Results showed no class differences in most cases and that children develop knowledge of appropriate adult sex roles despite contradictions in their own families. (DO)