Individual interviews of 224 Lebanese elementary school children in Beirut, ages five to ninewere carried out. The developmental ability to conserve was investigated through chi-square analysis with respect to the effect of the variables age, sex, religion, socioeconomic status, scholastic level, and mother's literacy. The ability to conserve number and liquid increased significantly with age. Among the other variables sex was the only one which yielded a difference significant at the .05 level in number conservation. The Lebanese Ss were found to be lagging behind American children of a middle-class school. The latter finding was discussed in terms of cross-cultural differences.
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