Participants were obtained from such agencies as Life Line and Children's Services, shelters, and from hospitals as outpatients. A few controls were obtained from ALANON. The women tended to have married early, and the mean age at marriage was 20.5 years for the battered wives and 20.9 years for the controls. Participants came from large families, were often separated from the parents, and about 60 percent had fathers who were alcoholics or heavy drinkers. Mental health was significantly worse in the fathers of battered wives and the father's violence to the participant occurred more often in those battered than in controls. In addition, battered women perceived their fathers as strict more often than did the controls, and more often witnessed violence by their husband to others prior to marriage. After being rated for hostility using the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ) both groups emerged as significantly and globally more hostile than a group of normal subjects. Finally, the children's health was reported as worse for battered wives than for controls. Tabular data and 11 references are given. (Author abstract modified).