A review of the literature reveals that several common characteristics are used to describe battered women, e.g., low self-esteem, passive, guilty, depressed, dependent. To test the accuracy of these descriptions, the 16 PF Personality Inventory was administered to 30 battered women. Analyses confirmed that abused women exhibited significantly different scores from the average American woman, although not necessarily on the predicted factors suggested by the literature. The hypothesis that abused women would tend to be somewhat less warm, more emotionally sensitive, suspicious, anxious and guilt-prone than non-battered women was supported. The results indicated that these abused women tended to be of higher intelligence and less rule-bound than average. These women were higher in ego-strength, dominance, and self-sufficiency than expected. The findings suggest that extrapsychic factors need to be considered when describing battered women. (JAC)