The survey was designed to measure the incidence of child abuse and spousal abuse. The Conflict Tactics Scales were used to obtain information on overall violence (percent of parents or spouses who reported using any of the listed violent acts during the year covered by the study) and severe violence (acts with a high probability of causing injury). More than one out of six American couples experienced an incident of physical violence during 1985. A substantial number of these incidents were serious assaults. The rates of violence by wives were similar to the rates for violence by husbands. Parental violence against children was measured according to children's ages. Almost all parents of 3-year-olds reported one or more times during the year when they had hit the child; about one-third of 15 to 17-year-olds were hit by a parent during the same year. A significant cause of family violence is the extent of interaction among family members and the likelihood that conflicts will be intense due to the degree of emotional involvement among family members. Other factors in family violence are cultural norms that permit or require violence, male dominance in the family and in society generally, family socialization in violence, stress, alcohol abuse, and societal violence. 11 notes.