A test of the cross‐situational consistency of communication apprehension

Abstract

Although communication apprehension is usually conceptualized as a trait, little research has directly examined its status as a trait. Since the explanatory value of trait conceptualizations is directly determined by their degree of cross‐situational consistency, this study tested the cross‐situational consistency of the most common measure of communication apprehension—the PRCA. Subjects (n = 282) completed the PRCA and then reported how much anxiety they would feel or have felt in 35 situations. Anxiety scores for these situations were factor analyzed to produce two independent classes of situations. The PRCA was found to predict anxiety better in the situational class where persons were less likely to know one another than in the situational class where persons were more likely to know each other. Thus, no evidence of cross‐situational consistency was found.