A study investigated the effects that writing skills, sex, preparation, and knowledge of the composing process have on writing apprehension. Subjects were 42 male and 42 female high school seniors from rural or small city schools who were considered by their English teachers to be average or above average students. In addition to indicating sex and level of preparation in writing, each subject completed instruments designed to measure writing skills, writing apprehension, and knowledge of the composing process. Results showed that writers with more writing skills were less apprehensive about writing than were students with fewer skills. Other findings showed that the instrument designed to measure knowledge of the composing process was not reliable for females; that contrary to previous findings, males were not more apprehensive than females; and that the number of writing courses a student had taken had a positive relationship with apprehension, with those students taking more courses tending to be more apprehensive than those with fewer courses. (Author/FL)