This cross-cultural study compared the lives of Chinese children and British expatriate children, assessed the children's perception of potentially stressful life events, and examined the relationship between the children's cognitive maturity and their adjustment skills. Subjects were 25 British preschool children living in Singapore and 25 local Singaporean Chinese children between the ages of 4 and 6 years. The two stressors examined in this study were separation anxiety and relocation anxiety. Four measures used were the Children's Life Events Inventory, children's self-report of a potentially stressful life event, the Teacher Rating Scale of Children's Adaptive Behavior, and the Teacher Rating Scale of Children's Cognitive Maturity. Analysis showed that the two cultural groups appeared to be experiencing both qualitatively and quantitatively different potentially stressful life events. British expatriate children experienced more stressors, had more difficulty adapting to new situations or events, and were less cognitively mature than Singaporean Chinese children. No gender differences in children's perceptions of separation anxiety were found. The measures used in this study can assist parents and teachers in identifying children most vulnerable to stress. (MM)