Prior work indicates items for the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension share one common factor, apprehension about interpersonal encounters. Employing a revised measure of apprehension, factor analysis of responses of 160 male and 144 female undergraduates to these two scales yielded five factors: apprehension about communicating in groups and meetings, apprehension in interpersonal contexts, apprehension in public speaking contexts, preventing others from taking advantage, and contentiousness. Only one common factor, apprehension in interpersonal contexts, was shared by items from both scales.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlbertiR. E.EmmonsM. L.Your perfect right: A guide to assertive behavior. San Luis Obispo, CA: Impact, 1974.
2.
BowerS. A.BowerG. H.Asserting yourself: A practical guide for positive change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1976.
3.
FensterheemH.BaerJ.Don't say yes when you want to say no. New York: Dell, 1975.
4.
FremouwW. J.ScottM. D.Cognitive restructuring: An alternative method for the treatment of communication apprehension. Communication Education, 1979, 28, 129–133.
McCroskeyJ. C.Measures of communication-bound anxiety. Speech Monographs, 1970, 37, 269–277.
8.
McCroskeyJ. C.The implementation of a large-scale program of systematic desensitization for communication apprehension. Speech Teacher, 1972, 21, 255–264.
9.
McCroskeyJ. C.Oral communication apprehension: A summary of recent theory and research. Human Communication Research, 1977, 4, 78–96.
10.
McCroskeyJ. C.Validity of the PRCA as an index of oral communication apprehension. Communication Monographs, 1978, 45, 192–203.
McCroskeyJ. C.BeattyM. J.Communication apprehension as a function of communication state anxiety experiences. Communication Monographs, in press.
13.
NortonR.WarnickB.Assertiveness as a communication construct. Human Communication Research, 1976, 3, 62–66.
14.
PalmerR. D.Desensitization of the fear of expressing one's own inhibited aggression: Bioenergetic assertive techniques for behavior therapists. In RubinR. D.BradyJ. P.HendersonJ. D. (Eds.), Advances in behavior therapy. New York: Academic Press, 1973. Pp. 241–253.
15.
PearsonJ. C.A factor analytic study of the items in the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension. Psychological Reports, 1979, 45, 491–497.
16.
PhillipsG. M.Rhetoritherapy versus the medical model: Dealing with reticence. Communication Education, 1977, 26, 34–43.
17.
RathusS. A.An experimental investigation of assertive training in a group setting. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1972, 3, 81–86.
