Comparison of assertiveness skills and anxiety between students with learning disability and typical peers in elementary schools of Tehran

According to the prevalence of learning disability and its effects on the educational achievement and self-esteem of elementary school’s students, in the present study we made an attempt to compare assertiveness skills and anxiety between students with learning disabilities and typical peers in elementary schools of Tehran.
In the present cross-sectional study, 80 elementary school students in Tehran, aged between 8-12 years, were selected following convenience sampling from public schools and the centers of learning disability. Gambrill and Richie (GR) Assertiveness Inventory and Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) child and parent form were used for data collection.
The population of the study was 80 students composed of 40 students with learning disability and 40 typical peers. After data collection and data analysis, the mean of the score of assertiveness scale in the students with learning disability was calculated to be 51.92, while it was 94.87 in the typical peers. Moreover, the means of the score of SCAS in child and parent version of students with learning disability were 46.60 and 36.57, while in typical peers they were 18.67 and 17.12, respectively (P-value Students with learning disability showed lesser assertiveness skills compared with that in typical peers. Also, these students have more anxiety than typical peers. Moreover, there is an inverse relationship between assertiveness and anxiety in the students with learning disability.