Toward the Development of a Screening Scale for Assertive Training

Abstract

A self-report scale was designed to select constricted (non-assertive) candidates for Assertive Training. Test items sampled stimulus persons, situations, and overt and covert responses. The scale was administered to 600 college students to assess reliability and validity. Coefficients of internal consistency and test-retest reliability were of acceptable magnitude. Constriction scores were related to, but distinct from, measures of dominance, deference, and autonomy. Constriction was positively associated with measures of neuroticism and fear and negatively related to extraversion and affiliation scores. Self-reports of satisfaction from environmental stimuli were inversely related to constriction scores. The assumption that constricted individuals are more compliant to external demands than their more assertive peers was supported by the finding that scholastic grades are a function of constriction level. Directions for future research and implications for behavior therapy are discussed.