Abstract
Assertiveness, as the ability to adequately express oneself while maintaining social gains, can be applied to various social contexts and concomitant social demands, but the cognitive and emotional correlates underlying assertive behaviour in diverse social events has not been considered. We tested a cognitive-behavioral framework for understanding the self-reported enactment of diverse types of assertive behaviours (i.e., displaying negative and positive feelings, expressing and managing personal limitations, and taking initiative), using a sample of 679 adolescents (mean age = 16.68, 261 boys) and a model generation approach to structural equation modelling. Cognition directly predicted lower distress and more frequent assertive behavior; also, cognition indirectly predicted assertive behavior through distress. Interpersonal management was the most salient cognitive theme predicting various types of assertive behaviors, alongside feeling less distressed when displaying negative feelings. Evidence was found for cognitive-behavioral theories being a valid approach to understanding assertiveness and sustaining insights for efficacious assertive training.
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Notes
Socioeconomic status was assigned according to parents’ profession, and taking into account the Portuguese profession classification. Examples of professions in the high socioeconomic status groups are judges, higher education professors, or M.D.s; nurses, psychologists, or school teachers are included in the medium socioeconomic status group; the low socioeconomic group includes farmers, cleaning staff, or undifferentiated workers (Instituto Nacional de Estatística 2011).
This measurement model achieved the best fit indicators, in comparison with two alternative models, namely a one factor model based on all observed variables and a second order model posing one total factor as reflected by all 12 latent variables, in turn described by the observed variables.
Excluding items with very low loading values (i.e., two items with ʎ ≤ .30) did not change any of the measurement indicators portrayed in this paragraph.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported in part by a doctorate grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Grant Number SFRH/BD/29574/2006) awarded to the first author.
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This manuscript is based on data also used on the doctoral dissertation of the first author. All named authors have read and approved the manuscript and there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. The order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all authors.
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All procedures performed in this study that involved human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Portuguese Directorate-General for Education and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was further obtained from all individual participants included in the study and, for underage participants, from their parents and/or legal guardians.
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Vagos, P., Pereira, A. Towards a Cognitive-Behavioral Understanding of Assertiveness: Effects of Cognition and Distress on Different Expressions of Assertive Behavior. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 37, 133–148 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-018-0296-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-018-0296-4