The women ranged in age from 18 to 77 years, and approximately 71 percent of the women were Muslim, and 29 percent were Christian. In measuring respondent attitudes toward various patterns of coping with domestic abuse, the questionnaire presented three stories of abuse that encompassed psychological abuse, moderate physical abuse, and severe physical abuse. After presenting each of the stories, 16 patterns of coping with the abuse were described; and the respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they supported or opposed each coping pattern on a seven-point scale. Findings indicate that the women consistently supported five coping patterns as the most desirable means for coping with wife abuse: persuading the husband to change his behavior toward her, improving her own behavior toward her husband, appeasing her husband and acting more intimate toward him, receiving counseling from welfare services in an attempt to find ways of improving relations with the husband, and staying away from the husband when he is upset. Strong opposition was expressed toward the following coping patterns: threatening the husband with divorce, going to a battered women's shelter, filing for divorce in court, attacking the husband in the same way she was attacked, filing a complaint against the husband with the police, and leaving home without telling the husband her location. Older women, women with lower educational levels, and women who were more religious were more likely to maintain support for traditional gender roles and patriarchal attitudes, as well as coping mechanisms designed to preserve the nuclear and extended family. 3 tables and 27 references