Nonassertiveness of Asian Americans: An inaccurate assumption?

Abstract

Tested the view that Asian Americans are nonassertive and the possibility that they display differential assertiveness depending on situational variables. To determine if race of the individual with whom they are interacting is an influencing variable on assertion in Asian Americans, 51 Chinese-American and 25 Caucasian undergraduate males were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: role playing a series of 13 situations requiring assertion with an Asian experimenter or role playing the same situations with a Caucasian experimenter. Ss also completed the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Questionnaire, and Rathus Assertiveness Schedule. Results indicate that Chinese-Americans were as assertive as Caucasians on all behavioral measures and that the race of experimenter was not an important variable in the performance of Asians. Consistent with previous studies, significant differences on self-report measures were obtained. Chinese-Americans were more likely to report anxiety in social situations, greater apprehension in evaluative situations, and lower assertiveness than Caucasians. (35 ref)

Self-Advocacy Skills in Asian American Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities

“…They found that Asian Americans had significantly lower assertion scores for five of the 10 scales: Making Difficult Requests, Making Requests in Public, Expressing Compliments, Disagreement with Parents, and Expressing Annoyance to the Opposite Sex. Unlike Fukuyama and Greenfield, who made a generalized statement about Asian American nonassertiveness, Sue et al (1983) pointed out that their Asian American sample displayed "situational nonassertiveness." For example, their Asian American subjects were found to be assertive in some situations such as in informal settings or when with members of their own ethnicity.…”

“…In the present study, other non-Asian Americans besides Caucasians-such as African Americans-were included in the comparison group. Further, the existing empirical studies on this topic tended to compare Asian American students with non-Asian American students (Fukuyama & Grenfield, 1983;Sue, Ino, & Sue, 1983). Although these studies imply that the cultural characteristics found in the Asian American students may be manifested in other subgroups of Asian Americans, no empirical work has directly addressed these issues in first generation Asian American parents of children with DD.…”

“…This finding may help explain a controversial issue on the subject. While many researchers observed that their Asian American subjects reported being less assertive, Sue et al (1983) compared the role-play of 36 second-generation Chinese American students with that of 22 non-Hispanic White students, and concluded that the Asian American students behaved as assertively as their White cohorts. It is worthwhile to note that ethnic differences in psychological traits between Asian and non-Asian American populations found in the literature were oftentimes due to comparisons with foreign-born Asian American populations, and that on many aspects, U.S.-born Asian American populations did not differ significantly from the White population (Abe & Zane, 1990).…”

Culture as a determinant of option choice in a situational judgement test: A new look

“…Indeed, in the GLOBE research study, China had a low societal practice score on assertiveness (Den Hartog, 2004). Also, Sue, Ino, and Sue (1983) found that the self-reported assertive behaviour of Chinese Americans was less than that of European Americans.…”

“…Indeed, in the GLOBE research study, China had a low societal practice score on assertiveness (Den Hartog, ). Also, Sue, Ino, and Sue () found that the self‐reported assertive behaviour of Chinese Americans was less than that of European Americans.

Hypothesis 2: Chinese students (as opposed to US Caucasian students) will be less likely to choose communication options that are assertive or confrontational.

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