Adolescents are frequently admonished to be socially assertive in order to confront negative interpersonal peer influences. Since the advent of HIV/AIDS in human social chemistry, the admonition has become more critical than ever. But the warning is often proffered in the misguided presumption that social assertiveness is the all-required…

Emotionally abused women experience negative psychological outcomes long after the abusive spousal relationship has ended. This study compares forgiveness therapy (FT) with an alternative treatment (AT; anger validation, assertiveness, interpersonal skill building) for emotionally abused women who had been permanently separated for 2 or more years…

Traditionally, Japanese learners of English (JLEs) were regarded as poor language learners who underachieved in international comparisons, and cultural factors were often blamed for their underperformance. A university group of JLEs (N = 259) was investigated to discover whether their attitudes toward language learning are becoming more flexible…

In this article, I discuss a Canadian public school controversy and Supreme Court of Canada decision involving competing stakeholder rights to freedom of religion, safety and equality. Policy considerations that allowed one group of stakeholders to express their constitutional rights raised concerns among other stakeholders. A policy vacuum and a…

This study investigated the influences of gender, school year, and socioeconomic status on assertiveness for black students attending four predominantly white, southeastern universities. The study employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Quantitative data on assertiveness were collected from 560 black freshmen and juniors…

This publication supplements an earlier publication, "What Do You Like about Yourself? Developing a Positive Self-Concept" that presented an introduction to self-concept and included activities that could be used with students of all ages. This particular document, divided into two parts, includes additional ideas and activities that relate to…

This workbook is one component of the Career Survival Kit prepared for teenage parents in Wisconsin. The workbook is designed to help teen parents identify their choices in preventing another pregnancy. It presents some thoughts about sexual decisions and responsibility. Birth control methods are described to help teens decide the best method for…

This personal/social skills training series consisting of five modules is designed to complement basic academic skills and employment skills training. The objective of the training is to address the affective competencies that adults need to attain and succeed in vocational training and employment. An introduction provides materials for the…

This pregnancy prevention curriculum guide for seventh and eighth grades is based upon the concept that individuals with social behavioral problems such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, criminal records, and other disruptive behaviors have a set of symptoms in common. Those symptoms include poor self-esteem, a lack of assertiveness, the inability…

Assertion training should be an integral part of preservice teacher training so that, when beginning teachers enter the classroom, they will be confident and able to establish a positive learning climate and minimize discipline problems. A graduate course was developed to assist teachers to develop assertive communication and to use assertive…

The changing ethnic population of college students presents a need to assess college satisfaction, particularly in view of the increasing numbers of black students attending predominantly white colleges and universities. The relationship between assertiveness and college satisfaction was studied in a multicultural population of 23 black and 23…

Despite the increase in the number of women entering the work force, the organizational setting is not typically conducive to upward mobility for most women. According to a variety of research studies, the impact of sex role stereotyping clearly suggests a set of communication behaviors appropriate for male managers and a different set appropriate…

Personality characteristics among females admitted to the U.S. Air Force Academy were compared to those of male cadets and to females attending other colleges. The Personality Research Form-E (Jackson, 1974) was administered to all 217 females of an entering class at the Academy during the first few days of basic cadet training. Approximately…

The speech classes in leadership training described in this paper consist of laboratory groups that give experiential training in interpersonal communication skills. These groups, comprised of students, faculty, administrators, and staff and community members, function under the direction of student facilitators who are intensively trained in the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 14 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) metaphor as argument in editorial cartoons, (2) conversational arguments, (3) message retention under threat of speech performance, (4) dominance and hostility…