Association between sex of the individual with untreated cleft lip and social judgement made by lay persons: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess whether there is an association between an individual's sex and social judgements made by lay persons regarding untreated cleft lip.Materials and MethodsLay individuals over 18 years old were recruited through an application to respond online to two questionnaires: a sociodemographic survey and the Brazilian Version of Lay Persons' Social Judgements about Cleft‐lip Scale (B‐LSojCleft‐S). B‐LSojCleft‐S comprises 14 items evaluating social judgements made by laypersons concerning different types of untreated cleft lips in teenagers. The 14 items are linked to 8 images featuring untreated cleft lips and 1 image without a cleft (control). Higher scores represented more favourable social judgements. Independent samples t‐test, paired, and multiple linear regression were conducted (P < 0.05). The study assessed judgements of untreated cleft lips in male and female adolescents using the B‐LSojCleft‐S.ResultsThe mean age of the 217 participants was 37.78 ± 12.39 years, predominantly women (72.7%), married (47.7%), with a monthly income below three minimum wages (35.6%) in the majority of cases. Significantly higher social judgement scores were observed in the control group (no cleft) compared to any type of cleft (P < 0.001), with similar scores obtained for the same types of clefts with female or male images (P > 0.05). The participant's sex is associated with social judgement scores (F [1, 214] = 6.318, P = 0.013; adjusted R2 = 0.024), with females making more favourable judgements than males (P < 0.05).ConclusionsIndividuals with cleft lips receive more negative social judgement scores, regardless of their own sex. Women make better social judgements than men.