Predicting attitudes related to stuttering from an international database

Area of Science:

• Speech and Communication Disorders
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Public and professional attitudes toward stuttering have been studied for 50 years.
• Previous research identified numerous variables predicting attitudes, but results were inconsistent.
• This study aimed to systematically compare and quantify the predictive strength of various factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare a wide range of potential predictors of attitudes toward stuttering.
• To quantify the predictive strength of these variables.
• To analyze predictors for "Beliefs about stuttering" and "Self Reactions to people who stutter" scores.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of a database of 22,413 respondents from 44 countries.
• Utilized the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) in 26 languages.
• Analyzed 37 predictors using linear regression models for three dependent variables (Beliefs, Self Reactions, Overall Stuttering Score).

Main Results:

• Geographic region, country, and language were the strongest predictors, particularly for "Beliefs about stuttering".
• Personal knowledge of stuttering or people who stutter had moderate predictive power for "Self Reactions" but weak power for "Beliefs".
• Demographic factors like sex, age, and education level showed weak predictive potential, while regional differences were consistently significant.

Conclusions:

• Geographic region is a significant and consistent predictor of attitudes toward stuttering.
• "Beliefs about stuttering" and "Self Reactions" measure distinct constructs with different predictive patterns.
• Findings confirm regional variations and highlight the need to consider these differences in interventions.