The main purposes of this study are: (a) to identify the constructs that may generate communication apprehension and to investigate how they influence communication apprehension and reduce the level of willingness to communicate; and (b) to explore the basic mentality underlying these constructs. The data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 10 Japanese female college students and one Vietnamese male student who provided a contrast for the data from the Japanese students. The study suggests that constructs such as perfectionism, competitiveness, "good-student" mentality and face-protecting orientation may generate communication apprehension and the basic mentality underlying them may be other-directedness. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)