The aim of our research was to investigate social and emotional skills that determine pre-schoolers' aggressive and pro-social behaviours in stressful situations. The sample of the empirical study consisted of 119 (36-48, 49-60 and 61-72 months) Hungarian children from six pre-schools. Instruments that were used: Coping strategy self-report and teacher-report questionnaires as well as hypothetical social situations interviews with puppets. The statistical analysis of pre-school teachers' questionnaires showed that verbal and physical aggression as coping strategies were used in a significantly higher proportion (p less than 0.05) by 61-72-month-old children than by the younger age groups. In the oldest age group, boys were rated significantly more aggressive than girls (p less than 0.05). However, significant age or gender effects could not be demonstrated on pro-social behaviour. Self-report questionnaires have not yielded any significant results concerning age and gender differences in either studied dimension. Hypothetical social situations resulted in significantly less-aggressive responses by 36-48-month-old children than by the two other age groups (p less than 0.05). Data obtained by self-report and teacher-report questionnaires on coping strategies and pro-social behaviour showed moderate correlations (r = 0.325-0.478). (Contains 18 tables and 1 note.)