Communication Apprehension Across the Career Span

Working adults engage in a variety of communication activities for their entire careers. Yet relatively, little has been established regarding whether or how average communication anxiety levels change over time, especially after college. The purpose of this study was to test communication anxiety levels across the career span. Age, levels of work experience, frequency in making presentations, and levels of communication apprehension as measured by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) were compared for college-educated adults, aged 20-72. They were also compared with mean PRCA scores developed by James McCroskey based on testing undergraduates. Levels of overall Communication Apprehension and Public Speaking Apprehension scores fell with age, years of full-time work, and frequency of making presentations. Only those reporting never presenting in the prior year had scores which aligned with McCroskey’s college student mean scores; all others were lower at the 0.000 level of significance.