Although most aspects of the women's emotional well-being 1 year after the initial interview did not differ in relation to the course of the relationship with the abuser, quality of life was marginally significantly higher among women who left the relationship for the entire year of the study than among women who remained in the relationship for the year. Across all types of violence (physical abuse, psychological abuse, and stalking), women who left and did not return to the relationship fared the best in emotional well-being, followed by women who never left the relationship, women who remained with the partner for a while and then left, and women who were fluid in their relationship status over time. The findings suggest that the course of an abusive relationship does carry some factor that relates to the abuser's use of violence. Learning more about whether this factor is related to the victim's level of power in the relationship will require more attention to abusers' internal responses to victims' decisions to leave, return, or stay. Data were collected as part of a larger longitudinal study of 406 women who were recruited from 1 of 3 sites in a mid-Atlantic city as they sought help for violence perpetrated by a current or former male partner. Over the course of the study year, 71 percent of the initial sample were reinterviewed at 3-month intervals over 9 months, and 81 percent of the sample was interviewed at the end of 1 year after initial contact. Interviews obtained information on demographics, relationship status, emotional well-being, and experiences of violence. 5 tables and 87 references