The subjects were 100 male batterers consecutively admitted to treatment from August-December 1985 at the Seattle Family Anger Management Institute. The men were referred for the problem of physically assaulting their female partners. The mean age of the group was 32.5 years, and the average income was $13,638. The FIRO-B represented a 54-item self-administration instrument to assess interpersonal orientation. Data analysis compared the interpersonal style of batterers, as measured by the FIRO-B, to that of normative populations. Batterers were more likely to fall into categories of loner, rebel, and pessimist and were likely to be less outgoing, less intimate, and more cautious than the general population. batterers demonstrated more difficulty with forming interpersonal relationships and expressing intimacy than normative samples. The findings suggest that male batterers have difficulty in expressing affection and forming relationships and do not indicate that batterers, in general, have high needs to control others. 15 references. (Author abstract modified)