To investigate vulnerability to psychological and emotional stress among chronically ill children, a battery of personality tests was selectively administered to 144 children (5- to 19-years-old) afflicted with one of the following conditions: diabetes, asthma, cystic fibrosis, or hearing impairment. Analyses centered on comparisons of norms developed for each scale with overall sample scores and scores broken down by age, sex, and type of illness. While some differences from normal children were noted (such as the hearing impaired Ss deviated from established norms in terms of lowered self-concept and that adolescents tended toward introversion), results consistently demonstrated Ss' functional strengths and coping abilities rather than their deviance from the norm. (LH)