Relationships Between Psychological Distress and Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Experiences of Stuttering

People who stutter (PWS) are vulnerable to the development of various psychopathological symptoms, although prevalence data are mixed and less clarity exists about factors that potentially influence their occurrence. The current study sought to shed light on the prevalence of self-reported psychopathology in PWS and aimed to identify relationships between affective, behavioral, and cognitive (ABC) experiences of stuttering and psychological distress (PD).

Forty-four PWS were administered the Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB) for Adults who Stutter and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18. The prevalence of clinically significant PD was calculated via BSI-18 global severity index t-score cutoffs. Regression analyses examined relationships between ABC variables of stuttering and PD.

Participants' BAB scores approximated normative values, while the PD score distribution was similar to that of a nonclinical sample. Nine percent of participants met thresholds for clinically significant PD. All ABC correlates of stuttering significantly and positively correlated with PD scores, capturing considerable amounts of shared variance.

Levels of PD in PWS approximate those of the general community, highlighting the existence of psychologically distressed subgroups of PWS. Speech situation-specific anxiety had the strongest relationship to PD, followed closely by one's report of situation-specific speech disruption. To a lesser but still significant extent, PWS' frequency to which they engage in various avoidance/escape behaviors, as well as their communication attitude, predicted levels of psychopathology. These data inform diagnostic and clinical decision making, drawing attention to factors that should be attended to in treatment.