The study hypothesis was that intimacy anxiety and the need for power may produce extreme arousal states and lead to aggression in some men in response to normal changes in the intimacy of a relationship. The physically aggressive group consisted of 25 men who had been convicted of wife assault and were attending a treatment group for spousal violence. The verbally aggressive group consisted of 18 men attending counseling groups for marital conflict. The 18 nonaggressive men were solicited through newspaper advertisements. The three groups were demographically similar. Analysis of variance provided preliminary support for the hypothesis that assaultive males react more strongly to abandonment scenarios than do other males. Data bearing on anger, behavioral likelihood, and relevance to one's relationship all indicated stronger reactions from this group. However, the large variance within groups and the small sample size resulted in a lack of statistical significance. Tables and 52 references.