The study investigates the development of compliance‐resisting behaviors as a function of the underlying level of perspective‐taking reflected in the structure of subjects' strategies. First‐, fourth‐, and tenth‐grade children generated compliance‐resisting strategies in response to three communication situations. Each task situation was associated with a different age/status agent (mother, peer, younger child). Additionally, each scenario varied the type of strategy used to gain compliance (simple request, incentive request, altruistic request). Results support a significant positive association between the three major independent variables (age of subject, type of request, and agent of request) and the degree of perspective‐taking evidenced in subject‐generated compliance‐res