The report presents a child-oriented research agenda that emphasizes the importance of knowing more about the backgrounds and experiences of developing children and their families, within a broader social context that includes their friends, neighborhoods, and communities. The discussion notes that four categories of child maltreatment are now generally distinguished: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment. Most forms of maltreatment are part of a pattern of maladaptive behavior that emerges over time, but research evidence regarding the origins and maintenance of this pattern is not clear. Research has focused on individual, familial, environmental and social or cultural risk factors that may contribute to child maltreatment. Evaluations of home visitation programs, school-based programs, and other community-based prevention programs are limited. Knowledge of the long-term consequences of childhood maltreatment into adulthood and of the quality of existing interventions is extremely limited. Ethical and legal issues for studies of child maltreatment will become increasingly important in the future. Research priorities should include developing a consensus on research definitions, analyses of the interactions among varied factors in causing child abuse, evaluations of existing program and service interventions, and the development of a national research plan. Additional research recommendations, chapter reference lists, index, and appended background information and supplementary views