Parental Physical Punishment Effect on Assertiveness: A Comparative Study of Male and Female of Higher Secondary School Students

Abstract

Harsh punishment in childhood is associated with multiple negative outcomes including increased assertiveness of social skills. The present study investigates the level of assertiveness of 200 High School students who have received harsh punishment, comprises 100 male and 100 female students, and compare between male and female students who are having same demographic variables by employing the structured questionnaire constructed by the researcher, and the Rathus Assertiveness Scale (Rathus, 1973). The results demonstrated that male students scored higher than female students which can be interpreted as males are more assertive than female students. This may suggest that females are being physically weaker than the male student may need more support than male students.