The multivariate analysis found that marriage per se was not a protective factor in risk for maternal physical child abuse. Of more significant effect on maternal physical child abuse were the varied psychosocial factors that fathers brought to bear on family dynamics. The father's positive involvement with the child and having some level of college education (independent of the mother's educational level) were the father-related factors bearing on the mother's risk for physical aggression toward and spanking of the child. Although further study is needed to provide a clearer understanding of the father-related causal pathways to maternal child maltreatment, this study emphasizes that marriage in itself, and the father's economic contributions may not be as important as the nature of the father's psychosocial involvement with the child. The study used in-home and phone interviews with mothers when index children were 3 years old. Predictor variables measured included the mother-father relationship status; the father's demographic, economic, and psychosocial variables, as well as key background factors. Outcome variables included both observed and self-reported proxies of maternal physical child abuse risk. These included the frequency of shaking the child; pinching him/her; slapping him/her on the head, face, or ears; and frequency of spanking the child. 3 tables and 57 references