Based on Wolpe's contention that assertive responses are incompatible with anxiety and are effective in overcoming neurotic fear, the present study predicted an inverse relationship between assertiveness and anxiety. Two-hundred-and-fifty male and 200 female college undergraduates completed the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (RAS), a questionnaire measure of assertiveness. Males proved significantly (P < 0·001) more assertive than females. Based on the distribution of RAS scores, three discrete, noncontiguous groups (high, average and low assertive), comprising 86 subjects, were selected for further testing, which included the Maudsley Personality Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Fear Survey Schedule II. Analyses of variance confirmed that assertiveness relates inversely and highly significantly (P < 0·0005) with measures of neuroticism, trait anxiety and interpersonal anxiety for both males and females.