Assuming that different programs for communication apprehensive/avoidant students attract different types of students according to their needs and apprehension types, a study examined the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and general people orientations, as measured by the Personal Record of Communication Apprehension-24 (PRCA-24) and by the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientations-B (FIRO-B), respectively. The study predicted that apprehension about communicating in public speaking situations would demonstrate a larger association with control needs than would apprehension about communicating in dyadic situations. The association between CA for the dyadic subcomponent and inclusion needs was predicted to be greater than the comparable association of inclusion needs with the public speaking subcomponent of the PRCA-24. Subjects were students enrolled in sections of several different speech communication classes. Results indicated a small to moderate correlation between the PRCA-24 and five of the six scales of the FIRO-B, suggesting a modest relationship between CA and people orientations. The results do not appear to support previous explanations that students enrolled in a program developed for public speaking anxiety should be more distinguished by differences in control scores on the FIRO-B. In fact, the subcomponent of the PRCA-24 measuring public speaking apprehension was the context least associated with any of the scales of the FIRO-B. (Tables of data are included.) (Author/FL)