Gender Differences in the Impact of Stuttering: Evidence from Chinese Adults

Gender differences in the lived experience of stuttering have been reported primarily in Western contexts, where women often show greater psychosocial impact. Far less is known about gender patterns in non-Western cultures such as China, where gender-role expectations and communication norms may differ from those documented in prior Western studies. This study examined gender differences in the multidimensional impact of stuttering among Chinese adults using the Simplified Chinese version of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering-Adult (OASES-A-SC).

Participants were 340 Chinese adults who stutter (201 men, 139 women) recruited from a large online self-help community. All completed the OASES-A-SC and a background questionnaire. Multiple linear regression models were conducted for the overall impact score and each of the four OASES sections (general information, reactions to stuttering, daily communication, and quality of life), with gender, age, therapy history, support-group participation, educational level, and self-rated stuttering severity entered as predictors. Item-level gender differences were examined using common language (CL) effect sizes across all 100 OASES items.

In unadjusted analyses, men reported higher mean overall impact scores and higher scores in daily communication and quality of life, along with higher self-rated stuttering severity than women. However, in adjusted regression models controlling for other covariates, gender significantly predicted the overall impact score and two sections (general information and reactions to stuttering), with women reporting slightly greater adverse impact. Gender was not a significant predictor for daily communication or quality of life in adjusted models. Item-level CL analyses showed that most items demonstrated negligible to small gender differences; only five items reached borderline-moderate effects, primarily involving socially visible communication situations. Across the adjusted models, self-rated stuttering severity was significantly associated with impact, while support-group participation was associated with lower impact.

Gender differences in the stuttering experience among Chinese adults were modest, context-specific, and sensitive to adjustment for individual and experiential factors. While unadjusted scores suggested greater overall impact among men, adjusted analyses indicated slightly greater impact among women in domains related to understanding and emotional reactions to stuttering. These findings diverge from many Western reports and suggest that cultural context and gender-role expectations may be important in interpreting gender differences in stuttering impact.