A comparison of attitudes towards stuttering of non-stuttering preschoolers in the United States and Turkey

Abstract

Background and objectivesExtensive research documents ubiquitous negative attitudes towards stuttering, but when and how they develop is unclear. This non-experimental, comparative study examined US and Turkish preschoolers to explore the origin of stuttering attitudes cross-culturally.MethodThe authors compared stuttering attitudes of 28 US and 31 Turkish non-stuttering preschoolers on English and Turkish versions of experimental prototypes of the newly developed Public Opinion Survey on Human Attributes–Stuttering/Child (POSHA–S/Child). Children first watched a short video of two stuttering avatar characters and then answered oral questions about stuttering. Parents completed a demographic questionnaire. Differences in the US and Turkish POSHA–S/Child means were calculated using the Mann–Whitney U test.ResultsAttitudes of the US and Turkish children were remarkably similar. Children rated most of the items negatively but also rated some items as neutral or positive. They held relatively more negative attitudes towards traits and personalities of children who stutter yet relatively more positive attitudes towards stuttering children’s potential.ConclusionStuttering attitudes in children appear to be partly independent of culture.

A comparison of stuttering attitudes among nonstuttering children and parents in Bosnia & Herzegovina

“…That the youngest cohort held the worst attitudes overall is not surprising. In fact, it upholds previous stuttering research which suggested cognitive and social development may explain attitudinal differences between younger and older children [16,20,22]. Differences between the youngest and oldest cohorts are particularly salient.…”

“…At this time, this and previous studies uphold the notion that children's stuttering attitudes improve in conjunction with their social and cognitive [16,[20][21][22]. Improvements in social awareness, perspective taking, and a more diverse social experiences might factor into children's understanding about stuttering and people who stutter, which has been posited in related research on stigma development [15].…”

“…That study was among the first to suggest that preschoolers' attitudes are actually worse than those held by older children -and both groups are comparatively lower than adults' attitudes. In a similar study carried out in Turkey using a translated version of the POSHA-S/ Child, preschoolers held as equally poor stuttering attitudes as the American cohort [20]. This was surprising, given that previous research reported nearly identical stuttering attitudes among sixth-grade Turkish children and their family members [21].…”

“…The purposes of this study were to examine the differences of stuttering attitudes among children from B&H across different grade levels and compare their attitudes to those of their parents. Bearing on previous research theorizing children's stuttering attitudes are resistant to culture [20] and that attitudes improve throughout early childhood [22], we hypothesized (a) children's attitudes would follow an upward trajectory with age, (b) younger children would hold significantly worse attitudes than their parents, and (c) older children would hold similar attitudes to their parents.…”

Management of stuttering using cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness meditation

“…Understandably, it may lead to disability (the functional communication difficulties experienced in the speaker's everyday life), impairment (the observable characteristics of the speech difficulty), and handicap (the impact of the stuttering disorder on the speaker's overall quality of life) and hence may be a cause for concern for several professionals, including family physicians, speech therapists, psychologists, and pediatricians. [123]…”