An investigation of high and low communication apprehensives in a college environment indicated that high communication apprehensives interact less with peer strangers, are less likely to accept a blind date, have fewer dates, are more likely to engage in exclusive dating, have close relationships with fewer faculty, are less satisfied with a university's advising system, and are less satisfied with the college environment. These results are examined within the context of the Berger-Calabrese developmental theory of interpersonal communication and an extension of that theory is tentatively advanced.

In recent years a substantial number of studies have been reported that have investigated the relationships among communication apprehension, communication behavior, and interpersonal perceptions.¹ While many of these studies have involved college students, most have tested hypotheses concerning communication apprehension in general, and the use of college students as research subjects was merely incidental to the purpose of the research. Very few of the previous studies have focused on the impact of communication apprehension on the lives of young people in the college environment.

The major exceptions to the above pattern have been studies which focused on the relationship between communication apprehension and academic achievement.² These studies provide considerable support for the notion that high communication apprehensives achieve significantly less than low communication apprehensives in most instructional environments. Thus, it has been fairly well established that communication apprehension is negatively related to success in one of the two major dimensions of college life, the academic dimension. The current research was directed toward the other major dimension of college life, the social dimension.

Communication apprehension has been shown to be associated with a variety of social withdrawal behaviors. For example, high communication apprehensives, as compared with lows, have been found to talk less, to choose more remote housing and seating, and to find other people less attractive.³ Within the college environment, particularly larger colleges and universities, students have considerable freedom to control the amount of interaction they have with their peers and faculty. On the basis of the previous research, therefore, we would expect that high communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, would develop fewer relationships with either peers or faculty in the college environment.

It is important to note at this point that research has not demonstrated that high communication apprehensives, as compared with lows, have a lower need or desire for close relationships with other people. Rather, the research suggests that their communication apprehension is a barrier to engaging in the communication necessary to form such relationships. The rationale for the present research, therefore, was as follows:

(1) High and low communication apprehensives do not differ in their need or desire for social relationships with others in the College environment;

(2) High communication apprehensives are limited by their communication apprehension from engaging in sufficient communication necessary to establish many social relationships in the college environment;

(3) As a consequence, high communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, establish fewer social relationships; and

(4) High communication apprehensives are less satisfied with their college environment than are low communication apprehensives.

On the basis of the above rationale eight hypotheses were generated for testing in this study. We will consider each of these in turn.

(1) High and low communication apprehensives do not differ in the number of dates they would like to have during a given 14 day period. Unlike the remaining hypotheses, this hypothesis was framed in null form. Since no previous research has indicated differences attributable to communication apprehension in the need or desire for social relationships, we had no reason to expect a difference here. It was considered important to test this hypothesis, however, because should communication apprehension and amount of dates desired prove to be related, this would challenge the first point in our rationale and be very important in interpreting the results related to later hypotheses.

(2) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, are less likely to engage in interaction with peer strangers within the college environment. The first step in establishing a social relationship is getting acquainted. At the University where this study was conducted students ride back and forth between two campuses on a university bus system. This provides daily opportunities to encounter peer strangers. This hypothesis posited that the high communication apprehensives would be less likely to interact with these individuals than the low communication apprehensives would be.

(3) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, are less likely to accept a blind date. An alternative to engaging in communication with a peer stranger and developing a social relationship which could subsequently lead to a dating relationship would be accepting a blind date arranged by someone else. We believe, however, that for the high communication apprehensives this would provide a very threatening communication experience and would be avoided.

(4) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, will report having fewer dates for a given 14 day period. This hypothesis follows from the two previous hypotheses. If high communication apprehensives form fewer social relationships and/or are less willing to accept blind dates, they are likely to have fewer dates.

(5) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, are more likely to date one person to the exclusion of others. This hypothesis is based on the assumed equality of need for social relationships of high and low communication apprehensives and the reduced dating opportunities of high communication apprehensives hypothesized above. If high communication apprehensives need or desire close social relationships but are prevented from "playing the field" by their apprehension, it follows that they will attempt to satisfy their need by holding on to whatever relationship they can establish.

(6) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, established fewer close relationships with faculty members. This hypothesis is based on the previous research indicating that high communication apprehensives engage in social withdrawal. This pattern should be clearly evident in the superior-subordinate nature of typical faculty-student relationships.

(7) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, have less positive attitudes toward a faculty-student advising system. At the university where this study was conducted, students are required to consult with a faculty advisor for each semester's registration. The advisor must approve the student's schedule before he or she is permitted to enroll. Because of the superior subordinate nature of the interaction produced by this system. It was believed that such interaction would be very threatening to high communication apprehensives and would result in negative attitudes toward the system.

(8) High communication apprehensives, as compared to lows, have less positive attitudes toward the college environment. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that all, or at least some, of the previous hypotheses are correct. If such is the case this would indicate less success on the social dimension of college life for high communication apprehensives and presumably would lead to less satisfaction with the college environment as a whole.

This study involved 71 students, 34 low apprehensives and 37 high apprehensives, enrolled in a basic communication course at West Virginia University. Nearly all of the subjects lived on campus or in private apartments in the community. The class rank of the subjects was approximately 34% freshmen, 49% sophomores, 11% juniors, and 6% seniors. There were approximately the same number of males and females among the high and low apprehension groups. Participation in the study was voluntary.

The subjects were selected from a group of 275 students who completed an initial screening. Students who were married (N = 36) were excluded from the data analyses. The initial screening involved administration of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) College Form.⁴ Students who scored beyond one standard deviation above the mean for the sample were classified as high communication apprehensives, those who scored beyond one standard deviation below the mean were classified as low communication apprehensives. The split-half reliability estimate for the PRCA was .93, which is comparable to previous estimates of reliability for this instrument.

Four weeks after the initial screening the subjects completed a questionnaire designed to elicit data relevant to the hypotheses of the study. A total of 25 questions appeared on the instrument. Eight of these were relevant to the study; the remainder provided a cover for the purpose of the study. Four of the relevant items requested an open-end numerical response, one required a dichotomous choice, and three provided a nine-step response option bound by bipolar adjectives. The items employed, in the order of our hypotheses noted above, are reported in Figure 1.

The data generated from item 5 were subjected to chi square analysis. The data from the remaining items were submitted to a single classification (high versus low communication apprehension groups) multivariate analysis of variance. Since the MANOVA produced a significant result, the individual hypotheses were tested by means of t-tests between the high and low communication apprehension groups for the data related to that hypothesis. The .05 alpha level was set for significance of all tests.

Because the first hypothesis was tested in null form and not rejected, a power analysis for that test was conducted to determine the likelihood that the result was an artifact of Type II error.⁵

The results of the multi-variate analysis and the t-tests are reported in Table 1. As indicated in that table the MANOVA analysis yielded a significant effect (Pillai's Trace, F = 2.50, P <.05). The communication apprehension independent variable accounted for 23 percent of the variance on the canonical variable generated by the analysis. All of the t-tests, with the exception of that performed on the data concerning number of dates wanted, produced significant results. In each case the observed difference between high and low communication apprehensives was in the hypothesized direction.

The chi square analysis of the data concerning exclusive/steady dating produced a significant result (Chi square = 5.97). While only nine of the 34 low apprehensives reported that they dated one person to the exclusion of others, 20 of the 37 high apprehensives reported that they did so. In percentage terms, 26 percent of low apprehensives and 54 percent of the high apprehensives reported exclusive steady dating behavior.

The power analysis of the test of the first hypothesis indicated a power of .21 for a very small effect size (d = .2), .67 for a moderate effect size (d = .5), and .95 for a large effect size (d = .8). This analysis suggests that while we cannot discount the possibility of the existence of a weak relationship between communication apprehension and desired number of dates, we can be reasonably confident that no moderate relationship exists, and almost certain that there is no strong relationship between these variables.

In a supplementary analysis, Crowne-Marlowe social desirability scores, which were available from all subjects as a result of an unrelated study, were correlated with each of the variables in this study.⁶ Significant correlations were observed between social desirability and the PRCA scores (r = -.26) and the number of dates desired (r = .2 6). No other correlations were significant. Consequently, the data on dates desired were submitted to a one-way analysis of covariance, levels of communication apprehension being the independent variable and Crowne-Marlowe scores being the covariate. The results were virtually identical to the t-test previously reported. No significant effect for communication apprehension was observed (F = 0.56, t = .75). The means adjusted for social desirability were virtually the same as the unadjusted means (High = 5.2, Low = 5.8). Thus, social desirability was discounted as a factor influencing the results of this study.