The effects of assertive training on the performance self-esteem of adolescent girls.

Assertiveness training was provided for 148 girls in 10 high school business and homemaking classes in six senior high schools. Training sessions were co-led by an experienced leader and the students' own high school teacher. Significant changes in performance self-esteem scores were found between pretesting and a three-month follow-up (p<0.001) for the 103 subjects available at follow-up; low self-esteem subjects showed greater increases than high self-esteem subjects (p<0.001). Changes in self-esteem were related to the girls' perceptions of teacher reactions to their assertive behavior (p<0.01).