Communication Apprehension and Cultural Context: A Comparison of Communication Apprehension in Japanese and American Students‪.‬

Communication apprehension is a widely researched personality characteristic that has been shown to predict levels of communication avoidance (see Richmond & McCroskey, 1998). The current study compared communication apprehension levels between American and Japanese participants. A Japanese translation of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (McCroskey, 1982) was administered to 200 undergraduate students at three Japanese universities. The English version of the PRCA-24 was administered to 122 undergraduates at a large university in Florida. The data showed a significantly higher level of communication apprehension in the Japanese sample than in the American sample. The data were discussed with reference to cultural implications. Communication Apprehension (CA) is defined as "an individual's level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons" (McCroskey, 1984, p.13). CA has been found to exist in virtually every culture in which it has been investigated, including China (Zhang, Butler & Pryor, 1996), Argentina (Sarquisse, Butler, & Pryor, 2003), United States (McCroskey, 1984), Pacific Basin (Klopf, 1984) and others. These studies indicate that rates of CA vary from culture to culture. The current research further investigated the issue of cultural variance in the incidence of CA.