Peer Ratings of Children's Assertive and Unassertive Behavior:

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to explore children's judgements of peers' assertive and unassertive behavior in positive and negative interactions. Subjects were 142 third and fourth graders, 8 to 11 years of age. Stimulus materials were sets of three short videotaped scenes in which a female target child behaved either assertively or unassertively with a female peer. Four types of scenes were utilized: positive situations and assertive behavior (PA), positive situations and unassertive behavior(PU), negative situations and assertive behavior (NA), and negative situations and unassertive behavior (NU). Groups of 8 to 10 male and female subjects each viewed one set of scenes and then completed a 10-item questionnaire assessing their judgements of the target children's social skillfulness and likability. Results indicate that subjects rated assertive behavior in positive situations significantly higher than in negative situations for the majority of the items. Also, ratings for the PA and NU scenes and for the NA and PU scenes generally did not differ significantly. No significantly main effect of target child or gender of subject was demonstrated although some trends were noted. These findings strongly suggest that children's judgments of peers' assertive and unassertive behavior are situationally specific. Results of the present study have important implications for children's social skills training.