A Study on the mediating Effect of Coping Style on the Relationship between Personality traits and Public-speaking Anxiety among University Students

Oral presentations are leading to high physical as well as cognitive arousals. In an academic context, presentations are not a rarity. However, many students experience these as a challenge as they often lack specific presentation skills as the focus lies mainly on writing skills. Gaining more understanding of public-speaking anxiety can be beneficial in decreasing its occurrence. This research paper aims to analyse the relationship between personality and public-speaking anxiety while controlling for a possible mediation effect of coping style among students. Particularly, a focus lies on the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism of the big five model and an avoidance or an approach coping style.