Journal of Family Violence, VoL 12, No. 4, 1997 Dropout in a Treatment Program for Self-referring Wife Abusing Men Pamela D. Brown, 1 K. Daniel O'Leary, 1 and Shari R. Feldbau 1 Demographic factors and levels of psychological and physical aggression were assessed as predictors of dropout for those who participated in a group treatment program for maritally discordant couples reporting husband to wife physical aggression. In addition, follow-up assessments with dropouts were conducted to obtain clients' reasons for termination. Demographic variables and levels of physical aggression did not predict dropout; however, higher levels of psychological aggression did. The most frequently cited reasons for dropout by participants were treatment-related issues. Specifically, clients reported that the group format did not enable them to address their individual couple issues. Regarding future treatment planning, our findings indicate that in cases where men are severely psychologically abusive, individual sessions may be warranted that precede or are in conjunction with couple sessions. Also, it is as important to target women's psychological aggression as it is to target men's psychological aggression. Finally, our findings indicate that treatment programs should utilize some mechanism that allows for more personalized attention to each couple, such as an individual couples format and/or an individual supplement to the group format. KEY WORDS: dropout; spouse abuse; treatment; self-referred. Among couples seeking marital therapy, approximately 50 to 65% of women report that their partner was physically aggressive toward them in the past year (Cascardi et al., 1992; Holtzworth-Munroe et al., 1992; O'Leary et al., 1992). Most of these couples report mild to moderate levels of physical aggression (i.e., push, grab, or shove). However, like more se- vere aggression (i.e., beat up, use of a weapon), mild to moderate levels 'Psychology Department, The University at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-2500. 365 0885-7482/97/1200-0365S12.50/0 C 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation