The relationship of communication apprehension to communication behavior: A meta‐analysis

This meta‐analytic review examines the connection between communication apprehension (CA) and communication behaviors. The results indicate a consistent negative relationship between the level of communication apprehension and communication skills (r = ‐.220) using a total of 36 studies involving 3742 participants. This relationship indicates that as a person becomes more apprehensive both the quantity and quality of communication behavior diminishes. Subgroup analysis indicated that the relationship was largest for ratings of the quality of communication (r = ‐.383), next largest for the quantity of communication (r = ‐.284), next largest for the impact on graded classroom communication (r = ‐.146), and smallest for nonverbal indicators (r = ‐.057). The results point to the ability of self‐report communication instruments to correlate with communication behavior.

Key concepts:

• Communication apprehension
• communication behavior
• communication competence
• meta‐analysis