Objective: To study mental health of children in special families. Method: Achenbach Children Behavior Checklist was used to investigate 2048 children aged 8-16 of divorced family, separation family, spouse-loss family, remarried family, under poverty-line family, child-handicapped family, foster family, parent-handicapped family, criminal family, and orphan in twenty districts/counties of Shanghai. Results: The prevalence of behavior problem of them was 8.1%, while the rate in boys (9.6%) was significantly higher than that in girls (6.4%, ? 2=8.58, P