Public speaking was the most common and greatest fear found by a Croatian survey of ten fears published in April 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an interesting article by Kamilo Antolovic, Mario Fraculji, and Sinisa Kovacic in the Proceedings of the Tenth International Scientific Conference: “Finance, Economics and Tourism – FET 2022” that was held on September 22 to 24, 2022 and published in April 2023 titled Research on stage fright and fear of public speaking.

 

The sample for their online survey consisted of 181 students from higher education institutions (under 30 years old) and another 355 people over the age of 30. Overall there were 536 adults, 47% female and 53% male.

 

They were asked how much they feared ten things, which in alphabetical order are: animals, bad weather, the dark, death, disease, flying, insects, other, public speaking, and strangers. Fears were reported on seven levels: 1 = none, 2 = barely noticeable, 3 = noticeable, 4 = medium, 5 = very noticeable, 6 = high, 7 = extremely high. Figure 3 of the article lists intensity of fears for all the percentages. We can rank them based on the sum for very noticeable, high, and extremely high.

 

As shown above in a bar chart, the most common Top Five percentages are: public speaking (36%), disease (27%), death (22%), insects (19) and flying (13%). (The margin of error is 4.2 percent).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But we also can rank them based on the sum for barely noticeable, noticeable, and medium, as shown in a second bar chart. Then the ranking is completely different - disease (59%), animals (58%), death (57%), public speaking (52%), and a tie at 51% for bad weather and insects.

 

We also can report Fear Scores on a scale from 1 to 7 where:

 

Fear Score = [ 1x(% None) +2x(% Barely Noticeable) +3x(% Noticeable) +4x(% Medium) +5x(% Very Noticeable) +6x(% High) +7x(% Extremely High)]/100  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above in a third bar chart, the greatest Top Five Fear Scores are for public speaking (3.72), disease (3.40), death (3.13), insects (3.05) and animals (2.45). The order for the top four matches that based on the sum for very noticeable, high, and extremely high.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4 of the article lists Fear Scores (intensity of symptoms) for women and men. For women a fourth bar chart shows the top five Fear Scores again are for public speaking (4.10), disease (3.71), death (3.44), insects (3.09) and animals (2.52).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For men a fifth bar chart shows the top five Fear Scores yet again are for public speaking (3.18), disease (2.92), death (2.62), insects (2.14) and animals (2.11). Scores for women are consistently higher than those for men.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Figure 5 of the article lists Fear Scores (intensity of symptoms) for younger people (30 or less) and older people (>30), which I have shown above on yet another pair of bar charts. For younger people a sixth bar chart shows the top five Fear Scores are for public speaking (4.43), insects (3.57), death (3.27), disease (3.17), and strangers (2.67).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For older people a seventh bar chart shows the top five Fear Scores are for public speaking (3.57), disease (3.37), death (3.04), insects (2.53), and animals (2.32). Fear scores of younger people are higher than for older people.