The study used a gender-specific approach to investigate the association among relationship factors, depressive symptomatology and husbands' marital violence in 327 couples who attended a marital therapy clinic. Couples were grouped according to husbands' verbal (VA), mild physical (MA), and severe physical (SA) aggression. Frequency of aggression and spouses' perceptions about their partners' communication skills during conflict were different for all groups. Reports on marital quality, conflict management style, cognitions about marriage, and individual affective state were more negative for both spouses when husbands were severely physically aggressive. Wives in the SA group were most likely to believe that partners cannot change. The article discusses the limits of current measures of dyadic processes for marital violence research. Tables, references, notes