Can Having Siblings Increase Stuttering as Compared to Being an Only Child?

Abstract

Background: Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder. Although recent studies have shown that most of its etiology is genetic, some parents considered their own caregiving or siblings as the cause of stuttering. This study aimed to address the clinical question associated with whether having siblings increases the risk of stuttering. Methods: We assessed the numbers and proportions of sibship size and birth order of 102 people who stutter (76 males and 26 females; average 11.8 years). In addition, we compared the occurrence of only children and siblings in our stuttering data with those in the 15 th Japanese National Fertility Survey database. Results: There were 22 (21.6%) only children and 80 (78.4%) siblings in our stuttering data, and there were 229 (19.8%) only children and 927 (80.2%) siblings in the 15 th Japanese National Fertility Survey database. A chi-square analysis revealed that the observed frequencies in the siblings' categories were not significantly different from those of only children. Conclusions: The only child proportion of our stuttering population was similar to that of the 15th Japanese National Fertility Survey data. Our findings will assist parents and sibships to encourage self-confidence and prevent negative beliefs in the form of self-blame, guilt or shame associated with stuttering.