RESUMO
The aim of the present study was to explore the difference in the level of intellectual maturity and emotional disturbance between orphan and no orphan children. On the basis of literature review it was hypothesized that the [Orphan children would be more prone to emotional disturbance as compared to non-orphan children] and [The level of Intellectual maturity of orphan children would be low as compared to non-orphan children]. In order to test the hypotheses, a sample of 241 school going children, consisting of 120 orphan children and 121 non-orphan children, including 124 females [non orphan 63and orphan 61] and 11 7 males [non-orphan 58 and orphan 59] were selected from different orphan organizations and schools of Karachi. Parental loss duration was at Least two years for orphan children. The age range of sample was between 5 to 12 years and their minimum educational level was grade one. The entire sample belonged to lower socioeconomic class. The Human Figure Drawing [Koppitz, 1968] was administered to assess the level of intellectual maturity and emotional disturbance. In order to interpret the results in statistical terminology, t- test and descriptive statistics were computed. Results were consistent with the hypotheses, i.e. there are more orphan children [75.83%] who score high on emotional indicators as compared to non-orphan children [55.37%]. Further, orphan children were found to be less intellectually mature as compared to non-orphan children [t= -4.077, df =239, p< .001]