The findings clearly show that for both males and females, witnessing or being the direct victim of physical and emotional abuse as a child was predictive of the perpetration of physical and emotional abuse in adult intimate relationships. Specifically, witnessing domestic violence as a child showed the strongest association for physical abuse "hitting" and verbal aggression "cursing" the partner. Being the direct victim of parental physical violence as a child predicted "strangling" behavior and verbal aggression "cursing" in adult intimate relationships. Study participants were 50 couples randomly selected from 5 family courts in Tehran (Iran), where they were seeking to divorce because of domestic violence. Participants completed a questionnaire developed by the author based on a comprehensive literature review. The questionnaire solicited information on factors causing disagreements among partners, physical and psychological violence, reactions to violence, men's beliefs regarding violence toward their spouses, history of abuse by their parents during childhood, types of violence perpetrated by their parents, and level of religious devotion. 4 tables and 34 references