A total of 12,300 women from Canada's 10 provinces were randomly surveyed by telephone. Resulting data were analyzed by examining sociodemographic characteristics of those at greatest risk, the seriousness of wife assault incidents, the impact of wife assault on victims, the generational cycle of violence, the percentage of incidents reported to the police, and the use of formal social service agencies by victims. The highest rates of wife assault were found among young women and men and among marital partnerships of less than 2 years. Women whose partners had witnessed violence by their fathers endured more severe and repeated violence than women whose fathers-in-law were not violent. Children witnessed violence against their mothers in almost 40 percent of marriages with violence. In many cases, children witnessed very serious forms of violence. In over 50 percent of cases in which women feared for their lives, children witnessed violence in that relationship. The police were informed in about 26 percent of wife assault cases; of these cases, charges were laid in 28 percent. Of women who reported being abused, 24 percent used a social service agency; 8 percent of all abused women contacted a transition house, and 13 percent of abused women who left their partner stayed at a transition house. 5 references, 9 tables, and 4 figures