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Reducing dating anxiety: A

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DOI: 10.1080/08934219809367684

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 COMMUNICATION REPORTS, Volume 11, No. 1, Winter 1998

Reducing Dating Anxiety: A Meta-analysis

MIKE ALLEN, JOHN BOURHIS, TARA EMMERS-SOMMER, and ERIN SAHLSTEIN

A meta-analysis was used to summarize the existing research on methods of reducing

heterosexual dating anxiety. Twenty studies were identified as relevant for this analysis. The
average positive effect (r = .336) demonstrates that intervention techniques successfully reduce
dating atixiety and increase the dating behavior of the participants. The implications of this
finding for issues surrounding the link between communication competence and sexual
coercion/date rape are discussed.

In the U. S., dating is the typical

means for establishing and maintaining romantic relationships. An arrange-
ment to meet a possible romantic partner and share some activity is part of
the typical process of forming attachments to another. This communicative
activity can be stressful, however, because of its evaluative aspects. The
inherent anxiety in dating sometimes results in avoidance.
One important social implication for those who are anxious about (and
therefore avoid) dating is the possibility that dysfunctional social behaviors
may result. Several theories regarding sexual aggression (including rape and
pedophilia) suggest that rapists may lack social skills for heterosexual
relationships (Kanin, 1985; Lipton, McDonel, & McFall, 1987; Segal &
Marshall, 1985). These theories suggest that the lack of an ability to
participate comfortably in the process of heterosexual interaction eventually
contributes to the development of dysfunctional patterns of behavior. This
reasoning implies that some males with high dating apprehension may be at
risk for developing maladaptive social responses. The inability to form
successful relationships with adult females contributes to the search for
alternative forms of behavior to satisfy basic human needs of affiliation and
sexual gratification. In addition, some males may become angry and may
focus their anger on the perceived cause of the anxiety (females).
An important argument supponing the need to reduce dating anxiety is
the concomitant ability to reduce anti-social actions, particularly male college
students, in date rape situations. Finding methods to reduce the anxiety a
male feels in interacting with females serves imponant personal and social

Mike Allen (Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1987) is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. John Bourhis (Ph.D. University of Minne-
sota, 1987) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Southwest Missouri
State University. Tara Emmers-Sommer (Ph.D. Ohio University, 1995) is an Assistant Professor in
the Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma. Erin Sahlstein (M.A. University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1996) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies,
University of Iowa. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1996 Speech
Communication Association Convention, San Diego, CA.
50 COMMUNICATION REPORTS

goals. For the person, the ability to handle the anxiety felt during a dating
interaction makes possible the enrichment of life. Socially, the development
of mainstream behaviors should diminish the anti-social actions that harm
innocent members of society. To the extent that methods for reducing dating
anxiety work, such techniques possibly forestall the development of anger
and resentment targeted at women as a source of the frustration.
The problem of dating anxiety relates to general issues of communicative
competence in a particular situation. Abbey (1987) reported that males and
females attribute different perceptions to friendly behavior; this finding is
replicated and extended by Johnson, Stockdale, and Saal (1991), Educational
efforts to prevent date rape focus on the creation of more accurate
perceptions, which lead to the generation of more effective messages
(Holcomb, Sarvela, Sondag, & Hatton-Holcomb, 1993; Holcomb, Sondag, &
Hatton-Holcomb, 1993), Educational effort may also work in situations
where the problem stems from misperceptions of behavior.
The present project uses meta-analysis to summarize the existing litera-
ture on methods of reducing dating anxiety. Meta-analysis provides a
systematic quantitative summary of existing scientific literature. A meta-
analysis represents a literature review technique that can correct for various
statistical artifacts (regression, attenuation) and increase the power of the
parameter estimation and diminish Type II error (Allen & Preiss, 1993; Preiss
& Allen, 1995).

METHOD
Literature Search
The literature was searched using the key words "dating anxiety" in the
ERIC, Psychlit, and Commlndex electronic databases. The bibliography
compiled by Richmond and Payne in Daly and McCroskey's (1984) Avoiding
Anxiety provided an additional source of information. The reference and
bibliography sections of obtained manuscripts were searched for additional
citations.
To be included in this meta-analysis (see Table 1) a data report had to
fulfill the following criteria:
(1) the study had to have quantitative data comparing some method of
improving dating anxiety,
(2) the study had to have information that was recoverable for the
estimation of an effect size.

Coding of Studies
Meta-analysis often involves the search for moderator variables, which
are variables that can explain potential areas of differential effects. A
complete set of coding and effects is available from the first author.
 WINTER 1998 51

Type of dependent measure. In the literature on dating anxiety, three

major types of dependent measures exist: self-report, observer, and behav-
ioral. A self-report measure was defined as a measure that asked for
representations of attitudes, feelings, and beliefs that the individual holds. An
observer measure was an evaluation by an outside person of some behavior.
Behavioral measures were indexes of actual actions, which usually took the
form of diaries or reports by the individuals of the number of dates in the
weeks after the therapy.
Type of therapy. Only systematic desensitization (with five investigations)
and skills improvement (17 studies) were analyzed in this section. Cognitive
modification was used only in two studies and combinations of approaches
(skills plus cognitive modification, skills plus systematic desensitization)
were used only in one study.
Design of investigation. The investigations used either a within-person
design (comparing a pre- and a post-test) to measure improvement or a
between-groups design (comparing an experimental group to a control
group). Many of the investigations used both methods of comparison. This
analysis compares whether any differences in outcome were observed
between the two designs.

Statistical Analysis
Studies were analyzed using the Hunter-Schmidt (1990) method of
variance-centered meta-analysis (Bangert-Drowns, 1986), This method takes
the effects from individual studies and then uses a weighted averaging
process. The procedure tests for the homogeneity of the effects obtained, A
homogeneous solution indicates that the observed differences between
studies could be explained as a result of random sampling error, A
nonsignificant finding indicates that the variability of the studies is such that
no proof for a moderator variable exists. The existence of a moderator
variable is confirmed when two conditions are met: (a) the subsample effects
are homogeneous, and (b) there is a difference between the mean effect of
the subsamples (Preiss & Allen, 1995),
The extraction process for effects involves the correction, where possible,
for such artifacts as: (a) restriction in range, (b) regression to the mean, (c)
treating a continuous variable as a categorical variable, and (d) attenuated
measurement. All of these formulas are well-established (Hunter & Schmidt,
1990) and have been successfully applied to literature dealing with the
treatment of communication anxieties (Allen, 1989; Allen, Hunter, & Dono-
hue, 1989),

RESULTS
Overall
The overall analysis indicates that therapeutic intervention significantly
reduces dating anxiety (/^(690)= 9,84;p < ,05; ave, r = ,336; var, r = ,014; A^ =
52 COMMUNICATION REPORTS

TABLE 1
Summary ofAvailable Data

Overall
Study Date r N

Bander 1975 359 84

Christensen 1974 383 28
Christensen 1975 257 60
Curran 1974 417 22
Curran 1975 400 24
Curran 1976 431 23
Glass 1974 618 50
Grossman 1991 234 24
MacDonald 1975 228 43
Martinson 1970 401 24
McGovern 1972 408 34
Melnick 1971 128 59
Mitchell 1974 360 29
Morgan 1970 328 16
Neumann 1988 224 20
Rehn 1968 292 16
Stark 1970 243 25
Twentyman 1975 476 31
Watkins 1972 343 32
Zane 1968 282 48

692; k = 20). This average effect is based on a homogeneous set of effects

(X(i9) - 0.00, p > ,05). This finding indicates lack of proof for the existence of
a moderator variable.

Type of Therapy
Skills training significantly improved dating outcomes (^(536) = 3,42; p <
.05; ave. r = .313; var. r = .017; N= 538; k = 17) based on a homogeneous set
of effect (xas) = 0,00,p > ,05),
Systematic desensitization significantly improved dating outcomes (f(io2) =
7,49; p < ,05; ave, r = ,321; var, r = ,007; A^ = 104; k = 5). This finding was
generated using a homogeneous set of findings (X(i4) = 0.00, p > .05),
A comparison of skills training and systematic desensitization demon-
strates no significant difference between the mean effects (z = .08, p > .05).
The results indicate that both methods of treatment lead to significant
improvement.

Measurement Type
The comparison of self-report, observer, and behavioral data indicates
some differences on the basis of measurement. Behavioral measures (which
are actually self-reports of dating frequency) indicate that therapy signifi-
cantly increased dating behavior (^(291) = 5.36, p < .05; ave. r = .300; var. r =
 WINTER 1998 53

,015; N = 293; k = 10) based on a homogeneous set of effect (xL = 0.00, p >
,05),
Self-report effects generate a significant average effect for self-report data
0(690)= 10,33, p < ,05; ave, r = .366; var. r = ,022; N = 692; k = 20) and
showed evidence of homogeneity (X(i9) = 20.70, p > .05).
Observer reports provide a significant average effect for ratings of
behavior (/(49i)= 5,34,p < ,05; ave, r = ,252; var, r = ,025; A^= 692; k = 12),
Individual differences among observed correlations can be explained in
terms of random sampling error (X(ii) = 20,70, p > ,05),
A comparison of the three average correlations for each measurement
type generated only one significant difference: self-repons have a larger
effect than observer measurement (z = 2,l4,p < ,05), The other comparisons
of self-report with behavioral (z = 1.06, p > ,05) and behavioral with
observer demonstrate no significant differences (z = .68, p > ,05),

Investigation Design
Within-person designs provide a significant average effect for improve-
ment 0(493) = 8,30,p < ,05; ave, r = ,350; var, r = ,015; A^= 495; k = 17) using
a homogeneous set of correlations (X(i6) = 0.00, p > ,05),
Between-groups designs shows a significant average improvement across
investigations (%07) = 8,50,p < ,05; ave, r = ,353; var, r = .018; N= 509; k =
13), Homogeneity was also came from a homogeneous set of correlations
(X('i2) = 0,00,p>,05).
No significant difference was observed on the basis of the design used to
examine the effects (z = .05, p > ,05), This nonsignificant comparison
suggests there were no differences based on the design of the investigation,

DISCUSSION
The findings indicate that all forms of dating anxiety reduction were
successful for all of the dependent measures. The results did indicate that
feelings of anxiety were reduced more than the behavioral outcomes. This
outcome is consistent with the research on public speaking anxiety reduction
(Allen, 1989), where self-report measures typically show larger improve-
ments than do the observational or physiological measures. This pattern may
indicate that, because anxiety is an emotional reaction, it might be affected
more immediately by intervention, whereas behavioral changes require more
time. That is, even though anxiety is reduced for a specific interaction, the
confidence that comes from repeated successful experiences may not have
taken place.
The results are consistent with data on the reduction of public speaking
anxiety, indicating that the interventions can successfully reduce levels of
anxiety (Allen, 1989; Allen, Hunter, & Donohue, 1989), The lack of a
moderator variable (as evidenced by the nonsignificant chi-square) indicates
that there would likely be no differences between skills training or systematic
54 COMMUNICATION REPORTS

desensitization, nor between the within-person and the between-group

designs.
An important next step in this line of research is to assess the link between
the anxiety to participate in social interaction and the development of
anti-social interaction patterns. The current meta-analytic project is being
extended to examine whether rapists and pedophiles believe they lack the
necessary social skills (often expressed as some type of communicative
competence) in interacting with adult females. The present analysis only
demonstrates that levels of heterosexual dating anxiety can be reduced, but it
does not provide evidence of a link between the lack of such skills (the level
of communication anxiety) and the eventual development of anti-social
outcomes. While such a link is expected, the existing empirical evidence is
equivocal, A systematic accumulation and examination of the literature
should improve the ability to understand the potential link between
interaction anxiety and its consequences. Whitman and Quinsey (1981)
argued that heterosexual training for rapists and child molesters may create
or provide alternative (i,e,, more functional and less anti-social) behavioral
patterns for some offenders. Additionally, a meta-analysis is planned to
examine whether date rape workshops change the attitudes of their
participants. The possibility that educational efforts can change communica-
tive competence in these important venues deserves exploration and
investigation,
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