Prevalence of anxiety disorders among children who stutter

Abstract

ANXIETY DISORDERS AMONG STUTTERING CHILDREN 2 Highlights Stuttering is a speech disorder that hampers communication in social situations  Roughly 22-60% of adults who stutter meet criteria for social anxiety disorder  No studies have evaluated the rate of anxiety disorders among stuttering children  Stuttering children demonstrated a significantly higher rate of anxiety disorders  Of note, 24% of stuttering children met criteria for social anxiety disorder AbstractPurpose: Stuttering during adulthood is associated with a heightened rate of anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety disorder. Given the early onset of both anxiety and stuttering, this comorbidity could be present among stuttering children.Method: Participants were 75 stuttering children 7-12 years and 150 matched non-stuttering control children. Multinomial and binary logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios for anxiety disorders, and two-sample t-tests compared scores on measures of anxiety and psycho-social difficulties.Results: Compared to non-stuttering controls, the stuttering group had six-fold increased odds for social anxiety disorder, seven-fold increased odds for subclinical generalized anxiety disorder, and four-fold increased odds for any anxiety disorder. Conclusion:These results show that, as is the case during adulthood, stuttering during childhood is associated with a significantly heightened rate of anxiety disorders. Future research is needed to determine the impact of those disorders on speech treatment outcomes.Keywords: Anxiety disorders; Social anxiety disorder; Diagnosis; Stuttering.ANXIETY DISORDERS AMONG STUTTERING CHILDREN 3 Prevalence of anxiety disorders among children who stutterFor some children who stutter, the negative social consequences of stuttering can begin as early as the preschool years, and continue across the lifespan. Non-stuttering preschool children have been found to negatively evaluate stuttering (Ezrati-Vinacour, Platzky, & Yairi, 2001) and may sometimes ignore, interrupt, mock, and walk away from stuttering children (Langevin, Packman, & Onslow, 2009). The communication difficulties and negative consequences of stuttering experienced by some children who stutter typically intensify during the school years, due to the increased importance of communication in social and classroom settings. Stuttering children have been rated as less popular, less likely to be considered leaders, and more likely to be considered bully victims, than their non-stuttering peers (Davis, Howell, & Cooke, 2002).Several studies have also confirmed that stuttering adolescents report a significantly higher rate of bullying than non-stuttering controls (Blood & Blood, 2004, 2007 Blood et al., 2011).Although negative consequences to stuttering may not occur for all children who stutter, these experiences have the capacity to adversely impact communication competence, selfesteem, social development, and even romantic attractiveness (Blood et al., 2011; Erickson & Block, 2013;Van Borsel, Brepoels, & De C...

Investigating resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of mothers of school-age children who stutter

“…Prospective studies also need to compare the results obtained with those from controls. Moreover, a recent study reported the need to utilize scales measuring anxiety levels that are specific to stuttering (28) . It is also recommended that a qualitative methodology be used in future studies in order to explore the resilience, perceived social support and anxiety levels of mothers.…”

After the RESTART trial: six guidelines for clinical trials of early stuttering intervention

“…There is evidence now that mental health problems, notably social anxiety disorder, are present with children who stutter in the age range 7-12 years (Iverach et al 2016). According to that report, 24% of the stuttering children had social anxiety disorder compared with 5% of control children.…”

Comparison of adults who stutter with and without social anxiety disorder

“…In the only study to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety disorders among adults who stutter and non-stuttering controls using a structured diagnostic interview, 22% of adults seeking treatment for stuttering met criteria for social anxiety disorder compared to only 1.2% of non-stuttering controls from the general community (Iverach, O'Brian, et al, 2009). Whilst it was initially thought that these findings might only apply to adults who stutter, recent evidence suggests that social anxiety disorder may also be prevalent among school-age children who stutter (Iverach, Jones, et al, 2016). In particular, 24% of school-age children (7−12 years) seeking treatment for stuttering met criteria for social anxiety disorder, compared to only 4% of non-stuttering control children (Iverach, Jones et al, 2016).…”