Abstract
In this study, the relationship of assertiveness with social information processing and psychological adjustment was examined, using a new assertiveness scale based on Four Requirements Theory of assertiveness (Watanabe, 2006). Three hundred and fifty-nine (359) university students completed a questionnaire. Results of path analysis indicated that four requirements of assertiveness had different effects on respective steps of social information processing. It was also revealed that the third requirement, concern for others, lowered mental health score, and the fourth, self directedness, lowered loneliness score. As a whole, results suggested that the first requirement, candid expression, and the third, concern for others, determined the direction of behavior, the second, control of emotion, served to adjust behavior, and the fourth, self directedness, added aggressiveness to behavior. It may be necessary in the next step of the research to investigate optimal levels of the requirements for better social adjustment.
