Previous studies indicate significant behavior and social/emotional differences between divorced and intact family children in favor of the latter group. Sex and age of the children appear to yield different responses to the stress of divorce. This study expands previous studies by: (1) focusing on a rural population; (2) examining the effect of school and family orientation variables; and (3) focusing on the child's creativity. Specifically, the study compared single- and two-parent family children on 13 classroom behaviors, perception of school support, attitude toward school, three divergent thinking abilities, five creativity characteristics (origence, interests, imagination, independence, and creative initiative/involvement). The subjects were 116 third, fourth, and fifth graders from seven rural public school districts in Central New York State. Tests used were the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale, the Group Inventory for Finding Creative Talent, the Revised Art Scale, the Quality of School Life Scale, the School Support Questionnaire, and the Family Environment Scale. Some of the findings concerning children from single parent families were: (1) behavioral difficulties at the fourth grade; (2) better imagination and higher family emphasis on achievement at the third grade; and (3) more adjustment problems for boys. This paper contains 28 references and 4 tables. (KS)