Comment on Witherspoon, Long, and Nickell's study of speaking anxiety, self-esteem, crime, and educational achievement.
Witherspoon, Long, and Nickell (1991) did not convincingly demonstrate that anxiety about speaking was related to dropping out of school or to the types of crimes that inmates commit. These authors did not control for variables related to these behaviors, and they did not compare the anxiety levels of the most appropriate groups of persons.
Boor
M
M
Department of Sociology, Emporia State University, KS 66801.
Bair
J H
JH
D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003417:Criminal Psychology; D006801:Humans; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D013332:Student Dropouts / Q000523:psychology; D014705:Verbal Behavior