GENDER AND LOCALITY AS

FACTORS INFLUENCING ASSERTIVE

BEHAVIOUR AMONG
ADOLESCENTS
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude to my teacher Ms. Ani Susan
Philip for her advice and assistance in keeping my progress on schedule.

I would also like to extend my thanks to one of my friends, Shreya, for

helping me find a good template.
INDEX
 Problem Statement
Today’s adolescents are tomorrow’s leaders and this naturally calls for
the shaping of their behaviour. Many adolescents find it difficult to
express themselves effectively in social situations. This undermines
their significant role in the development of modern India and also in
improving and strengthening the society. They are the pillars of a nation
and play an important role in contributing much to its social
development. So it is important for an adolescent to be assertive,
because being assertive can help them in many ways. It helps them in
improving self confidence, self-esteem and also helps them to stand up
for their rights without being aggressive and without violating the
rights of others.[1]
 Pre-Existing Notions
Of the 46 chromosomes in the human genome, 45 are unisex[2]. Female
and male are therefore similar in many physical and traits, such as age
of setting teething, and walking. They are also alike in many
psychological traits, such as overall vocabulary, certainty, intelligence,
self-esteem, and happiness. Actually, there are some differences and it is
this difference, not the many similarities that capture attention and
make news. Researchers in the mainstream sociological tradition have
argued that people first acquire gender through socialization in
childhood.[3] It has been argued kin a large number of studies that boys
act differently toward girls from birth onward. In the first 24 hours after
birth, according to one study, parents described boys as more alert
stronger and firmer and girls as less attentive, weaker, and more fragile,
this go a long way in determining the behavior of the child in all aspect
of his or her development including assertiveness. Gender is virtually
assessed in every study that evaluated treatment, retention and
outcome.[4]
People expect woman to behave unassertively. Women also avoid
behaviors that do not fit “the feminine role and when they do engage in
“masculine assertiveness” they are likely to encounter disbelief or even
hostility from others. Woman tends to be very agreeable be cause they
want to have good social support and they may be hard to achieve
consensus. Men and women speak different.[5] Men tends to be more
aggressive speakers than women[6] and women tend to be more polite.
Because of this difference, woman tends to be judged lower in
assertiveness than men. The alternate perspective emphasized that
powerless speech styles are used by both genders. When one has little
central or power over a task, one may become uncomfortable
performing the task, and this may end up speaking in a powerless
style.[7] According to Colman[8] he defines gender as “non-technically
synonym for sex, especially in feminist psychology, the behavioral,
social, and cultural attributes associated with sex”. Moreso, Cherlin [9]
construed gender as the social and cultural characteristics that
distinguish women and men in the society. Therefore, being assertive
will be subjected under this factor to investigate how it differs or
manifest in these two different individuals. Behavioral change due to age
is striking especially changes on physical appearance (Casmir &
Auerbach, 1998).
 What Is Assertiveness?
Assertiveness is an important social skill which promotes personal
well-being. Most definitions of assertiveness emphasize direct
expression of feelings, desires and thoughts in interpersonal contexts.
Definitions of assertive behavior put an emphasis on individual rights.
Alberti and Emmons[10] stated that “assertive behavior promotes
equality in human relationships, enabling us to act in our own best
interests, to stand up for ourselves without undue anxiety, to express
honest feelings comfortably, to exercise personal rights without denying
the rights of others. Assertiveness is a mode of personal behavior and
communication characterized by a willingness to stand up for one’s
needs and interests in an open and direct way.

The assertive person stands up for things that matter to him or her
while at the same time respecting the things that matter to others[11].
Assertiveness has also been defined as the process of direct and
appropriate communication of a person’s needs, wants and opinions
without punishing or putting down others[12]. It can be used as an
instrument for initiating and maintaining socially supportive
relationships and hence enjoying better emotional wellbeing. [13]
Assertiveness was considered to be a mean of self- development and
achievement of maximum personal fulfillment and assertive skills in
various communication fields in conjunction with the increased
demands on social competence of the individual.[14]

Assertiveness as a social skill is a construct which has a number of

different dimensions, including the ability to express oneself without
anxiety or aggression in different situations. [15] Assertiveness is about
effective communication and this does not just mean choosing the right
words to say in a given situation. Tone of voice, intonation, volume,
facial expression, gesture and body language all play a part in the
message you are sending to the other person, and unless all parts of the
equation match, you will be sending a garbled message. [16] According to
Galassi and Galassi, “assertion is the direct and appropriate
communication of a person’s needs, wants and opinions without
punishing, threatening, putting down others, and doing this without
fear during the process.”[17]
 What Is Gender?
The terms sex and gender are frequently used interchangeably, though
they have different meanings. In this context, sex refers to the biological
category of male or female, as defined by physical differences in genetic
composition and in reproductive anatomy and function.[18] On the other
hand, gender refers to the cultural, social, and psychological meanings
that are associated with masculinity and femininity. [19] You can think of
“male” and “female” as distinct categories of sex (a person is typically
born a male or a female), but “masculine” and “feminine” as continuums
associated with gender (everyone has a certain degree of masculine and
feminine traits and qualities).
Beyond sex and gender, there are a number of related terms that are
also often misunderstood. Gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes, and
personality traits that are designated as either masculine or feminine in
a given culture. It is common to think of gender roles in terms of gender
stereotypes, or the beliefs and expectations people hold about the typical
characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of men and women. A
person’s gender identity refers to their psychological sense of being
male or female. Differences between males and females can be based on
(a) actual gender differences (i.e., men and women are actually different
in some abilities), (b) gender roles (i.e., differences in how men and
women are supposed to act), or (c) gender stereotypes (i.e., differences in
how we think men and women are). Sometimes gender stereotypes and
gender roles reflect actual gender differences, but sometimes they do
not.
 Gender And Assertiveness
In terms of language and language skills, girls develop language skills
earlier and know more words than boys; this does not, however,
translate into long-term differences. Girls are also more likely than boys
to offer praise, to agree with the person they’re talking to, and to
elaborate on the other person’s comments; boys, in contrast, are more
likely than girls to assert their opinion and offer criticisms. [20] In terms of
temperament, boys are slightly less able to suppress inappropriate
responses and slightly more likely to blurt things out than girls. [21] With
respect to aggression, boys exhibit higher rates of unprovoked physical
aggression than girls, but no difference in provoked aggression.[21]
However, there is considerable variability between individual males and
individual females. Also, even when there are mean level differences, the
actual size of most of these differences is quite small. This means,
knowing someone’s gender does not help much in predicting his or her
actual traits.
Males tend to be associated with stronger and more active
characteristics than females.[22] Strong characteristics such as
assertiveness. And these associations are constantly reinforced and
mold the behaviour in children.
Research has found gender differences in assertiveness through the
words men and women use to communicate [23]. Men tend to use
assertive speech, which is used to advance one’s personal agency in a
situation. In contrast, women prefer affiliative speech, which is used to
affirm or positively engage with someone else.
Gender differences in assertiveness are not only found in speech, but
also in behaviour. Research has found that, overall, men tend to show
more assertive behaviours than women, such as stating an opinion or
refusing an unreasonable request.[24] Women who act assertively at work
may be seen as behaving in a dominant way, a trait which is viewed as
masculine. Because they are violating the female stereotype of
submission, they face backlash in the form of being seen as bossy and
aggressive. [25] Leadership traits that are considered to be appropriate
for women are more “feminine” traits, such as having excellent social
skills, being sensitive, and being emotionally available for others. [26] The
subtle social pressure of having feminine traits encouraged but
masculine behaviours viewed negatively means that female leaders may
feel that speaking up isn’t a good idea.
Men reported a significant tendency to assert themselves more than
women in public situations while women reported a tendency to be
more assertive in private interpersonal settings.[29] Men reported a
significantly greater tendency than women to be shy in dating
situations. Finally, men reported a greater willingness than women to
question publicly a person of high status.
 Locality And Assertiveness
There is no significant difference found between rural and urban
students in their assertiveness with respect to place of living. Calculated
‘t’ value is 3.2356 and it is significant at 0.1 level.
when assertiveness was studied based on locality it was found that the
urban adolescents had better assertiveness scores than the rural
adolescents both among boys and girls.[28]
Homogeneity and limited exposure in rural areas can limit awareness of
alternative gender roles discouraging contestation of gender norms and
confidence in the possibility of social change, e.g. in the division of
labour. Urban heterogeneity fosters tolerance of differences, and can
erode existing assumptions of gender differences and cultivate support
for equality.[27] This where the influence of locality and gender influence
the assertive nature of adolescents.
 Findings
Objectives of the Study: The following objectives were formulated for
the present study:
1. To find out the level of assertiveness among adolescents between ages
10-19 years.

2. To find out whether there is any significant difference in their

Assertiveness based on the
following personal and demographic variables:
a) Gender
b) Locality
Hypotheses of the Study : There is no significant difference in their
Assertiveness based on the following personal and demographic
variables:
a) Gender
b) Locality
Method and Procedure : In the present study survey method was
adopted.
Tool Used In the Study : The Rathus Assertiveness Schedule

Sample: 52 adolescents between ages 10-19 years (Male 30 and Female

32)
Scoring Procedure : Scores on the assertiveness schedule can vary from
-90 to 90. Values of answers, 3 = very much like me, 2 = rather like me, 1
= slightly like me, -1 = slightly unlike me, -2 = rather unlike me, -3 = very
much unlike me.

Details of the Survey Questions: Section 1 contained questions to collect

Demographic data.
Section 2 was the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, which is a set of 30
questions used to measure an individual's assertiveness.

Academic
performances were asked for to see whether it was a factor or not. It was
not.

The survey showed that the median score for the sample was 19 points.
The highest score was of 54 points from a female participant between
the age of 16-19 years, living in a metropolitan area. The average female
respondent score was 20.59, while the average score for male
respondents was 14.45, this goes against the original hypothesis and
cited papers.
 A likely explanation
for this that age divisions among the adolescents weren’t accounted for
when taking the average for each gender. 50% of the male respondents
were between the age of 16-19, while 75% of the female respondents were
between the age range of 16-19. Social skills could be more appropriately
understood as part of a personality dimension (i.e., assertiveness), which
has also been found to correlate with age. Assertiveness is a
characteristic which can be trained so it is possible that the reason for
this difference is scores is because of the small sample size and the
difference in age groups.

48.1% of the
respondents live in urban areas, 42.3% live in metropolitan areas, 7.7% live
in semi urban areas and 1.9% reside in rural areas. Locality, in this survey,
did not seem to play a part in the assertiveness of the sample.
 67.3% of respondents
reported their locality being Progressive or Open-Minded, while 32.7%
said that they lived in a Conservative or Traditional locality.
The impact of this factor on assertiveness among adolescents is yet to
be measure.
 Survey Limitations
The sample size of the survey was too small, only 52 surveyors. The
factor for locality could not be measured effectively as only 1.9% of the
respondents reported being from rural areas. This also related in the
lack of data to find a correlation between locality and progressiveness
(needed to establish that gender roles in certain areas are more
stringent than others). Age groups were not accounted for, if they were
then the results would have shown no significant difference between the
scores of males and females. Finally, since the test is self reported it is
possible that the responses of the surveyors were influenced by other
factors such as parents, friends, etc.
 Recommendations
For an adolescent to develop into a complete adult it is highly imperative
to teach him some coping strategies and one of the most important and
useful skill is assertiveness. By inculcating this skill an adolescent will be
able to express both positive and negative feelings honestly and
straightforwardly, without anxiety or intimidation. An assertiveness
training could be beneficial for developing adolescents’ assertive
behaviours and this enhancing program could be incorporated into
everyday curriculum in schools, colleges and universities. The study
may helpful for the students to understand the level and importance of
assertiveness. In addition a programme regarding assertiveness
training should be conducted in the future.
 Conclusion
The present study revealed that there is no significant difference among
students with respect to their gender and residence. But it is confirmed
that there is significant difference among students in their assertiveness
score. Previous studies reveal that no significant differences in
assertiveness exist between rural and urban students.[28] The original
hypothesis is proven correct.
 Bibliography
Researchgate

Worldcat

American Psychological Association

Proquest

Google Books

Open Press

Online Library Wiley

Science Direct

Sage Pub
Trace Tennessee

GSRDC

SRJIS

Psych Open
Thank You!