The first group consisted of 79 abusive persons in battering programs who were undergoing therapy for physically abusing their partners. The second group consisted of 57 victimized persons who were receiving services from four protective shelters and three counseling agencies. The third group consisted of 70 husbands and wives (35 couples) perceived by contact persons to have nonabusive relationships. Self-report measures were used to assess five affective orientations: alexithymia (lack of words for expressing emotions), affective orientation, range of positive feelings, expression of positive affect, and expression of negative affect. The findings show that perpetrators were significantly more alexithymic than functional spouses, but were not significantly different from victims. Perpetrators and victims reported being less disposed to possess or express their feelings than did functional males and females. Male perpetrators were significantly less aware of their affective states than functional males; and female victims were significantly less aware of their affective states than functional females. Female victims had significantly fewer positive feelings than functional women. Expression of positive emotions was significantly less for female victims than for functional females. Deficit of positive affect compared to the presence of negative affect was a significant indicator of physical abuse reported within intimate relationships. 77 references