While the effect of anger may be on the individual experiencing the emotion, anger often arises in an interpersonal conext and has deleterious effects on others besides the individual experiencing the emotion. Thus, interventions to prevent anger and its consequences often involve studying the social antecedents of anger and intervening in a social framework. While research on anger modification is relatively new, the area of child abuse has received systematic study and can serve as a model for effective prevention and intervention. In this chapter, the focus will be on child abuse, a public health problem of staggering proportions taht results from anger and hostility. The goals of this chapter are as follows: to present a conceptualization of anger and aggression in the context of child abuse which lends itself to the development of treatment and prevention activities; to review previous treatment strategies and present some preliminary findings relevant to the issues of prevention and treatment of child abuse; and finally, to discuss implications of this research for treatment of anger and hostility in behavioral medicine.