Wife abuse is a social problem that confronts all sectors of the human services network. It is not known what life factors influence an abused wife's initial choice to leave home and seek help in a shelter agency or to stay home and seek help in a non-shelter agency. This study was conducted to examine the relative importance of various factors associated with where an abused wife initially turns for service in the community. Women (N=75) who entered a shelter for abused wives were interviewed concerning the type of initial contact for help they made and five independent variables: abuse patterns in their family of orientation, their husband's criminal assault record, pregnancy, socioeconomic status, and the length of the marriage. The results revealed that 16 respondents had initially sought help from the shelter, while the remaining 59 women had initially contacted a variety of community resources as their initial source of help. Data analysis revealed no statistically significant relationship between initial source of help and four of the five independent variables. Length of marriage appeared to influence the behavior of abused wives. The abused wife who had been married for 5 years or longer was found to be more likely to seek help initially at a shelter than was the abused wife who had been married for less than 5 years. The decision of where to seek help initially appears to be the result of a complex interplay of factors, the length of the marriage being only one of those factors. (NB)