Personality correlates of anxiety about public speaking

McCroskey (1982) has hypothesized that there are various forms of apprehension about communication some of which are situation specific and some of which are best thought of as traits. Other research has established a relationship between personality variables and a trait conception of apprehension about communication. If McCroskey's distinction between trait and situation-based state is appropriate, personality variables ordinarily associated with trait apprehension about communication should not correlate as highly with forms defined as more situation specific, such as anxiety about public speaking. Multiple regressions were performed using trait measures of apprehension about communication (the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension) and situation-based anxiety (the public speaking factor of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension) as dependent variables. As hypothesized, contributions of personality were less for trait than situation-specific apprehension about communication. The inclusion of self-monitoring as a moderator variable added additional information about the contributions of personality to situation-specific apprehension about communication, with personality being more predictive of apprehension about public speaking for low self-monitors.