Published Paper Details:

Young adults are increasingly delegating written communication to artificial intelligence tools, yet the psychological consequences of this habit have received limited empirical attention. This study tested whether habitual AI-assisted communication dependency erodes expressive cognitive confidence, which refers to an individual's belief in their capacity to think, formulate, and express ideas without assistance, and whether that erosion elevates communication apprehension. A theoretically grounded mediation model, termed the Crutch Effect, was tested using a quantitative cross-sectional correlational design with 105 young adults aged 18 to 35 years (Female n = 60, 57.1%; Male n = 44, 41.9%; M = 25.7 years, SD = 4.9) recruited through an online survey in urban India. Three validated instruments were administered: an adapted AI Communication Dependency Scale (AI-CDS; ? = .936), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE; Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995; ? = .884), and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24; McCroskey, 1982; ? = .964). All four hypotheses were supported. AI dependency correlated negatively with self-efficacy (r = .257, p = .008) and positively with communication apprehension (r = .427, p < .001); self-efficacy correlated negatively with apprehension (r = .442, p < .001). Self-efficacy significantly mediated the dependency-apprehension relationship, confirming the Crutch Effect (indirect B = 0.211, 95% CI [0.020, 0.443], p = .022), accounting for 21.4% of the total effect. Participants using AI for more than three hours daily reported apprehension scores above the high-apprehension threshold (M = 81.6, SD = 23.08). These findings offer early empirical evidence for a mediated pathway from AI communication dependency through eroded self-efficacy to elevated communication apprehension.