Today's interrelated and interconnected world demands that college students develop the intercultural competence to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In response to this challenge, the number of American students participating in study abroad has been increasing. Many studies shave explored the benefits of studying abroad, yet there are few…

In response to the enduring "deficit" approach to the educational attainment of Aboriginal students in North America, we hypothesized that academic underperformance is related to a cultural mismatch between Aboriginal students' cultural background, which emphasizes connectedness and interdependence, and the mainstream White model of…

Sexual revictimization is frequent among victims of child sexual abuse. Several variables, such as sexual experience, substance abuse, and sexual assertiveness, have been proposed to explain the link between child sexual abuse and adolescent and adult sexual victimization, although they have typically been tested separately. The main objective of…

Acculturative stress is a common experience for international students and is associated with psychological and physical problems. In a previous study (Tavakoli "et al. Journal of Counseling Psychology 56":590-596, "2009"), the authors reported that two stress reduction interventions--expressive writing (EW) and assertiveness training (AT)--had…

The study compared level of assertion among four groups of adult male subjects: Arab and Jewish Israelis with and without a physical disability (total N=189). Results indicated there was significant interaction between cultural affiliation and physical disability. Arab subjects without a physical disability reported the lowest level of assertion.…

Analyzed components of assertiveness, assessed by the College Self-Expression Scale, for Asian-American (N=105) and Caucasian (N=135) students. Results showed a significant difference in full-scale assertion scores indicating lower levels of overall assertion in Asian Americans, interpreted as consistent with value differences between…

Assessed differences in self-reported assertion responding between Asian- (n=45) and Caucasian-Americans (n=74) across nine different situations. Related differences to prior experiences, expectancy outcomes, or self-efficacy beliefs. Findings suggest that assertion differences between ethnic groups are situationally specific, with most…

Examined the view that Asian Americans are nonassertive and that they display differential assertiveness depending on situational variables. Results indicated that Chinese-American and Caucasian subjects (N=76) were equally assertive on all behavior measures. Race of the experimenter was not an important variable in the performance of Asian…

This study was conducted to compare the social style of Japanese and Americans. Participants included 241 Japanese students from Otsuma Women's University and Nihon University (Tokyo, Japan) and 252 American students from West Virginia University (United States). Each completed the Richmond-McCroskey Assertiveness-Responsiveness Measure (which…

In light of cultural stereotypes in which Black women function as strong heads of households while Hispanic women serve as obedient wives, a study examined whether Black and Hispanic subjects evaluated assertive speech differently when attributed to a male or female speaker. Subjects, 75 Blacks and 100 Hispanics, all undergraduate students…

The last four decades have seen a dramatic increase in the number of women entering employment. This is particularly true in Europe and although more European women are working outside the home, the patterns of female employment have changed very little. An analysis of these patterns is presented. It was found that women continue to dominate…

Most definitions and training of assertive behavior fail to consider cultural diversity in social skills. Verbal, nonverbal and cognitive components of assertive behavior were investigated to determine cultural variations in assertiveness. Black (N=30) and white (N=30) male and female college students enacted 16 role-play scenes with 4 role…

A quest for knowledge about the behavior and development of people in other parts of the world, concerns for social action, and greater family mobility have led to an increased interest in cross-cultural research. Male (N=112) and female (N=113) college students in India rated the desirability of 104 traits for Indian men or for Indian women. The…

Surveyed a group of South American business people on their television viewing and perceptions of U.S. business people, exploring the relevancy of media-cultivated perceptions for understanding intercultural communication between U.S. and Latin American businesses. Found that Americans were viewed as aggressive, an undesirable communication trait…

In an examination of some relationships between culture, assertiveness, decisionmaking, and self image among Chinese Americans, this paper focuses on themes such as: (1) how cultural factors impinge on individual capability to be assertive; (2) specific ways in which cultural conditioning affects decisionmaking skills and other behavior patterns;…