EPIDEMIOLOGICAL FEATURES OF CHILD ABUSE AMONG A SAMPLE OF PREPARATORY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN BENHA CITY Introduction:Child abuse is in fact a worldwide phenomenon and has become a major concern in many countries throughout the world. Child abusers are found mostly in the ranks of the unemployed, the blue-collar worker, the white-collar worker, and some other professionals. Child abuse or maltreatment constitute all forms of physical ,emotional abuse , sexual abuse, neglect and any other exploitation.Objective: The current objective is to assess the epidemiological feature of child abuse among a sample of preparatory school children in Benha.Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional study. It is conducted on students of 2 preparatory schools in Benha city during the academic year 2006/2007. Three hundred and thirty students were selected by systematic random method from the chosen schools .The studied group included 1st, 2nd and remnants of the previous 3rd preparatory year. Results: It was estimated that 75.8% of the studied group were exposed to abuse. Only 24.2% of the studied group wasn't exposed to abuse. This difference was of statistical significance , P