Stuttering and social anxiety

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Speech and Language Pathology

Background:

• Social anxiety is a prevalent concern that can significantly impact an individual's quality of life.
• The relationship between stuttering and social anxiety requires further investigation to understand its full scope.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the presence and extent of social anxiety in adults who stutter.
• To compare social anxiety levels between adults who stutter and those who do not.
• To assess the implications of social anxiety for social functioning in individuals who stutter.

Main Methods:

• Administered the Inventory of Interpersonal Situations (IIS) to measure social anxiety.
• Compared a group of 89 adults who stutter with a control group of 131 non-stutterers.
• Assessed two components of social anxiety: perceived emotional tension/discomfort and frequency of social responses.

Main Results:

• Adults who stutter reported significantly higher emotional tension and discomfort in social situations.
• Individuals who stutter exhibited a significantly lower frequency of executing social responses.
• Approximately 50% of stutterers' scores aligned with those of highly socially anxious psychiatric patients.

Conclusions:

• Adults who stutter experience heightened social anxiety, manifesting as increased discomfort and reduced social engagement.
• The findings underscore the importance of assessing social anxiety as a key component in the evaluation of adults who stutter.
• Integrating social anxiety measures into stuttering assessments can lead to more comprehensive and effective treatment approaches.