Personal assertiveness and the effects of social support among college students.

Abstract

Although research has established that socially supportive relationships are important factors in psychological adjustment under stress, social support research has not examined the interaction between interpersonal variables and social support. Personal assertiveness in particular is one interpersonal variable that theoretically could enhance the beneficial aspects of social support. Data collected from two independent samples of college students in an urban setting provide evidence that personal assertiveness significantly augments specific types of social relationships to predict psychological symptoms under stressful conditions. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that social support moderates the deleterious effects of stressful encounters for many people. Although this research has been plagued with measurement problems and an inadequate theory-base (Cobb & Jones, 1984; Heitzmann & Kaplan, 1988; Thoits, 1982), a large literature attests that persons who report lower levels or lower quality of existing socially supportive systems have more difficulties with depression and anxiety under stress (Cohen, 1988; Cohen & Wills, 1985). However, several studies have found unexpected negative results of social support among people under duress. These results have been difficult to interpret and integrate, primarily because of the general disregard of personal and interpersonal factors that potentially moderate social support processes. The lack of understanding regarding the role of interpersonal and personal factors in the social support process poses unique problems for counseling interventions. It is generally acknowledged that many group and individual therapies either directly or indirectly have an impact on clients' interpersonal behaviors (Strupp & Binder, 1984; Yalom, 1985), and several researchers have recognized the potential of these treatment modalities to help clients acquire interpersonal skills to access and use naturally existing social support resources (Mallinckrodt, 1989; Rook, 1984a). Recent preliminary work suggests that individual interventions can be enhanced considerably by examining and addressing client perceptions of social support resources (Brown, Brady, Lent, Wolfert, & Hall, 1987), and client progress in group therapy may be marked by improvements in certain types of socially supportive relationships (Mallinckrodt, 1989). Research that clarifies the relationship between interpersonal behavior, social support, and psychological adjustment would have implications for counseling interventions. Traditionally, the social support construct has been used in research methodologies as an independent variable either moderating the effects of stress or related to well-being of subjects under more general conditions. Theoretical debate