Many clinical observations of child witnesses of violence have been made, yet there has been little systematic research on the relationship between observing violence and perceived self-competence. Possible correlates of observing wife battering in the self-perceptions of young children were examined by administering the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance for Young Children to 4 and 5 year olds. Subjects were 16 children from Denver area Safehouses for battered women who had observed battering, and 16 children from a Denver area day care center who had not observed battering. Families from the two groups were comparable in income and parental marital status. The results indicated that the Safehouse children scored lower than the day care center children on the scales measuring social competence, cognitive competence, and paternal acceptance. The differences between the two groups on scales measuring maternal acceptance and physical competence did not achieve significance. A significant difference was also found in a combined score of all five scales, and in the combined score of cognitive, social, and physical competence and maternal acceptance. These data suggest that the Safehouse children felt less accepted by their peers and their fathers than did the day care center children, and felt less competent in cognitive skills. (NRB)