Another communication skill that relates to stress management is being assertive. It is healthy to express your needs in a way that does not harm another person nor minimize what you want to say. It is this direct, honest, and appropriate expression of your feelings that is termed assertiveness.

A clear indicator of whether a behavior is assertive, passive, or aggressive is the reaction of people to it. The following chart describes the characteristics of these three behaviors. After reading it, you can analyze your behaviors by responding to questions 1, 2, and 3 below.

Choose a behavior to analyze, then check off one or more responses to each question.