Twenty-two residents of the Women's Transitional Living Center, a safe house or shelter for battered women in Orange County, Calif., volunteered to participate in the study. All subjects met the criteria of being 18 years old or older; having been in a sexual, cohabitating relationship with a male for a period of at least 1 year; and having reported being seriously physically abused in the relationship. The Life Characteristics Questionnaire measured the group's demography, and learned helplessness was measured using two situational problemsolving tasks designed for the study. The Rotter (1966) Internal-External Scale was used to measure locus of control. Passivity was measured using the 30-item Personal Assertion Analysis developed by Hedlund and Lindquist for use on nonstudent populations. Multivariate analysis of variance conducted on scores for the dependent measures indicate that the battered women did exhibit significantly poorer problemsolving skills and were more passive with their partners than nonbattered women. There was no difference between the groups on general passivity or external locus of control. The findings are discussed in relation to the learned helplessness theory of battered women and research involving problemsolving deficits. 1 table, 30 references. (Author abstract modified)