A battered woman may, like her abuser, hold traditional beliefs about male and female sex roles. If she has been in battered for any length of time, she may be plagued by low self-esteem and may function in a "survival" mode, having energy for little other than anticipating her batterer’s violence and the situations in which it might happen. She may present at physicians’ offices or clinics with stress-related complaints of minor injuries, escorted by an overly solicitous partner.

When outside the home, she may seem overly concerned about the time – that her husband or partner expects her home at a certain time. She may seem standoffish, giving excuses as to why she is unable to receive someone in her home. She may seem despondent, exhibiting signs of what Dr. Lenore Walker termed "learned helplessness," which is a deep discouragement at society’s not making a clear statement that "this behavior is wrong" and holding the batterer accountable for his actions. He may not be arrested, he may be discharged early, he may not be prosecuted or he may receive a token sentence. She may feel fear and anger at being asked or perhaps pressured to file a complaint or to testify against her partner, and may wish these things could be accomplished without her participation. If threatened with more bodily harm against herself or her children, she will drop charges and refuse to go to court.

She may have a specific vulnerability, such as lack of money or work experience, age, disability, immigrant status or confidential issues. She may be intuitively aware that the violence will increase if she leaves the relationship. According to the 1992-19993 National Crime Victimization Survey, the victimization rate of women separated from their husbands was about 3 times higher than that of divorced women and about 25 times higher that of married women. She may have witnessed abuse as a child (according to the Nebraska Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition, in 1994, 40% of battered women reported witnessing abuse as kids). She may have left many times before – statistics say that battered women leave an average of 7 times before being able to leave for good.

Adapted from Domestic Violence: A Public Health Education and Resource Guide for Lincoln & Lancaster County, Nebraska, 1996.