This paper explores the concept of child abuse. The analysis begins by explaining the problems evident in defining child abuse, and presents the historical development of child abuse prevention. A theoretical discussion on personality development is also included. The second section of the paper describes results of a research project designed to measure the self-concept of 15 children who had been physically abused. Children who had lower average self-concept scores were those with severe injuries as compared to those who were moderately or mildly injured. Younger children had the lowest scores. (Author/MP)