ABSTRACT
Even though we know that communication apprehension is often regarded as a trait-like, predispositional anxiety or fear toward communicating with others, more recent research examines the influence of situational causes of that anxiety or fear. To assess the validity of that claim, Beatty developed a measure that assesses the original seven situational factors identified by Buss. (Beatty argued that the eighth factor, evaluation, was more accurately interpreted to be an individual difference variable, rather than a situational factor; thus, evaluation was omitted from his measure). In the published literature, each of the seven situational dimensions has been scored separately to preserve the conceptual framework appearing in the situationalists’ literature. Because the measure was initially designed for immediate administration, often in conjunction with other postperformance measures, the number of items was necessarily restricted.
