An objective index of degree of parental agreement was generated by comparing the independent responses of 83 parental dyads to a set of Q-sort items referencing child-rearing values and orientations. This index was found to significantly predict subsequent continuation or termination of the marriage and to relate to independently-described characteristics of the family home environment. Further, the index of parental agreement was significantly related to the quality of psychological functioning in boys and in girls over a four-year age range, from age 3 to age 7. The results of this study support, for the sample of boys, the hypothesis that agreement between parents is positively related to ego-control and to ego-resiliency as reflected in resourcefulness, verbal facility, and acceptance of responsibility for one's actions and feelings, to task orientation, and to intellectual functioning. For girls, however, parental agreement level is negatively associated with ego-control and is essentially independent of ego-resiliency. Similar results were obtained in a replication study of ninth and tenth grade students. In attempting to account for the sex-differentiated findings with respect to the effects of parental agreement-disagreement, four explanations are suggested. (Author/RH)