Assertive training interventions have become increasingly popular for teaching specific life skills to individuals, but spouses are rarely involved. To study the effects of training on marital relations and social skill, assertive training was conducted with married individuals (N= 4 couples) reporting less assertive ability than their spouses. Data indicated that trained subjects reported increased assertive ability and lowered social anxiety. Untrained spouses reported decreased assertiveness, increased social anxiety, decreased frequency of social anxiety, decreased social skill knowledge, and decreased social self-efficacy at followup. Marital relations were not influenced by training. Role play assessments of assertion indicated that all subjects performed more assertively after training but the effects did not generalize to novel assessment situations. The findings suggest that exposure to assertive training, even in the absence of behavioral change, may have adverse effects on the social skill of the untrained partner and assertive trainers should be alert to the potential risks of unilateral spousal training. (Author/JAC)