Adaptiveness of aggressive, assertive, and submissive behavior for children

The present study explored the relationships between aggressive, assertive, and submissive response styles and three measures of adjustment in 223 children aged 8 to 10 years. Significant positive associations between assertiveness levels and self‐esteem, popularity, and peer‐ratings of behavioral adjustment were found for boys, but not for girls. Significant negative correlations were obtained between levels of aggressiveness and peer‐ratings of popularity for both boys and girls; in addition, highly aggressive children were found to be significantly less popular than both highly assertive and highly submissive youngsters. No significant relationships between submissiveness levels and the three adjustment measures were obtained. Notes *The author wishes to extend his appreciation to Frances McLaughlin of the St. Peter and Paul School, Sister Agnes Marie of the St. Joseph School, Ronald Seaver of the Dodge Elementary School, and David Maul of the Windermere Boulevard School, for allowing the study to be conducted in their schools, and to Joseph Masling, Roger Burton, Sid Shrauger, Suzanne Bachman, Margaret O'Connor, and John Lavigne for their critical comments and encouragement. Special thanks are offered to Marilyn D. Wang and Mary Jo Kupst for their invaluable assistance in the data analysis.