4 Eighty percent were abused as children or saw their mothers being abused;

blame partners for their abusive behaviour;

place enormous expectations on partners to feel good about themselves;

are very jealous and possessive of partners;

tend not to trust other people and therefore tend not to share inner world with others;

have limited or no social network; partner is closest person he knows;

highly emotionally dependent on partner; subject to depression known only to family;

4 tend to express all negative feelings as anger;

4 have low self-esteem;

get needs met by control, such as violence and threats;

may threaten suicide if partner leaves;

come from all socio-economic levels; all educational levels; all racial, age and ethnic groups;

can be very pleasant outside of the house and very unkind at home;

frequently demanding and aggressive in sexual behaviour;

hold very traditional, stereotyped views of male-female roles and relationships;

lack sympathy for partner's physical and emotional pain, and;

tend to minimise and deny the abuse.