Publication Date
2020
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Valde, Kathleen S.
Degree Name
M.A. (Master of Arts)
Legacy Department
Department of Communication
Abstract
Higher education faculty have long struggled with getting students to participate meaningfully in classroom and campus dialogues. Some students avoid participating due to fear or anxiety of communicating with others. Certain topics, such as politics, can cause higher degrees of apprehension. Political minority groups can experience greater apprehension when communicating with majority groups. One minority group in academia with the potential to self-censor is the conservative student.
This study used state-based communication apprehension (McCroskey, 1984) and political communication apprehension (PCA, Jones-Carmack, 2019) as theoretical backings to explore how conservative opinion expression and self-censorship in academic settings might change over time. The semi-structured life world interview technique was used to better understand 17 self-identified conservative college students’ perceptions of political opinion sharing. The retrospective interviewing technique (Huston et al., 1981) was used to track turning points that positively and negatively impacted participants’ willingness to share opinions throughout their college careers. The results suggest that all participants experienced PCA. Four different fears related to conservative opinion sharing were inductively derived. The results also suggest that willingness to express conservative opinions fluctuated throughout each participant’s college career, as three positive and three negative turning point types were identified. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are offered.
Recommended Citation
Montgomery, Megan Elise, "“i Never Shared My Opinion Again”: Political Communication Apprehension and Conservative College Students" (2020). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 7467.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/7467
Extent
91 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
