OBJECTIVE: To describe capabilities and difficulties in emotional adjustment experienced by children living in the Chilean Aymara city of Arica. PATIENTS AND METHOD: 610 students between 5th and 8th grade, in addition to their parents and teachers were surveyed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), comparing Aymara children to those without indigenous heritage. 25 items divided into five scales were evaluated: Emotional, behavioral problems, hyperactivity, relationship problems with peers and prosocial behaviors, classifying the respondents into three levels, Normal, Border and Abnormal. RESULTS: There were no significant differences among the groups studied, where discrepancies in almost all cases show a slight effect (d>/=’0.2′). Also, no relevant effects were observed regarding the type of assessor on the assessment of each dimension. Despite this, it was observed that Aymara children showed lower scores than their peers in ‘behavioral problems’ according to their teachers, but this difference was also mild (partial eta2>0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Aymara Children showed similar strengths and difficulties than non-Aymara students in situations that require emotional adjustment.