Assessment of assertiveness in the intellectually handicapped

Abstract

Earlier work in the structural analysis of self-reported difficulty in assertiveness had indicated that individuals differed in terms of a two-facet model - response type (positive vs. negative assertiveness) by referents (close vs distant interpersonal encounters). This study replicated the individual differences structure for an intellectually handicapped sample, thus extending the generalizability of that model. However, although the dimensions were found in three different methods of assessment, self-report, behavioral rating, and role play, little agreement was found between the methods in accounting for individual profiles. Additionally, there were hints that the four interaction dimensions of assertiveness might actually reflect different difficulty positions on a non-linear unidimensional scale of assertiveness. Using a Rasch model to derive the single scale, role play and self-report were significantly correlated in their assessments, but the correlation was not very great. It was hypothesized that method differences might reflect legitimately different perspectives of close-distant referent raters.