Personal Report of Interethnic Communication Apprehension (PRECA)

This measure was developed to address communication apprehension in the interethnic context. This instrument is presumed to be better than the PRCA24 for this particular communication context. However, it is substantially correlated with the PRCA24. This suggests that interethnic communication apprehension is a sub-category of general communication apprehension. Alpha reliability estimates should be expected to be above.90 when completed by native English speakers, although they may be lower when this instrument is translated into another language because translations usually are less than perfect.

Directions: The 14 statements below are comments frequently made by people with regard to communication with people from other ethnic groups. Please indicate how much you agree with these statements by marking a number representing your response to each statement using the following choices: Strongly Disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; are undecided = 3; Agree = 4; Strongly Agree = 5

_______ 1. Generally, I am comfortable interacting with a group of people from different ethnic/racial groups.

_______ 2. I am tense and nervous while interacting with people from different ethnic/racial groups.

_______ 3. I like to get involved in group discussion with others who are from different ethnic/racial groups.

_______ 4. Engaging in a group discussion with people from different ethnic/racial groups makes me tense and nervous.

_______ 5. I am calm and relaxed with interacting with a group of people who are from different ethnic/racial groups.

_______ 6. While participating in a conversation with a person from a different ethnic/racial group, I get nervous.

_______ 7. I have no fear of speaking up in a conversation with a person from a different ethnic/racial group.

_______ 8. Ordinarily I am very tense and nervous in a conversation with a person from a different ethnic/racial group.

_______ 9. Ordinarily I am very calm and relaxed in conversations with a person from a different ethnic/racial group.

_______10. While conversing with a person from a different ethnic/racial group, I feel very relaxed.

_______11. I am afraid to speak up in conversations with a person from a different ethnic/racial group.

_______12. I face the prospect of interacting with people from different ethnic/racial groups with confidence.

_______13. My thoughts become confused and jumbled when interacting with people from other ethnic/racial groups.

_______14. Communicating with people from different ethnic/racial groups makes me feel uncomfortable.

SCORING: To compute the PRECA score, complete the following steps:

Step 1. Add the scores for the following items: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 12

Step 2. Add the scores for the following items: 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 14

Step 3. Complete the following formula: PRECA score = 42 - Total from Step 1 + total from Step 2.

Scores can range from 14 to 70. Scores below 32 indicate low interethnic CA. Scores above 52 indicate high interethnic CA. Scores ranging between 32 and 52 indicate a moderate level of intercultural CA.

Source: Neuliep, J. W., & McCroskey, J. C. (1997). The development of intercultural and interethnic communication apprehension. Communication Research Reports, 14, 385-398.