Abstract
The psychometric properties of the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Scale (WLAS) were examined with an older community-dwelling, nonclinical, adult population. Three hundred twenty-seven older adults (ages, 57–96; mean, 75.68) who were not psychiatrically impaired completed a demographic questionnaire and the WLAS. Fifty-seven of the 327 subjects also filled out the WLAS on a repeated basis after 3 or 4 weeks in order to determine the test-retest reliability. Results indicate that the WLAS has an adequate internal consistency (Cronbach'sα=.75) and test-retest reliability (r=.81). WLAS cutoff scores of 14 and under identify unassertiveness. Older adults who are (1) African-American or (2) of lower SES tend to be significantly less assertive. Also, five factors emerged from a principal-components analysis accounting for 34.7% of the total variance.
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This research is based on the senior author's doctoral dissertation in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. under the direction of the second, third, and fourth authors.
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Kogan, E.S., Hersen, M., Kabacoff, R.I. et al. Psychometric properties of the Wolpe-Lazarus assertiveness scale with community-dwelling older adults. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 17, 97–109 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229012
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229012