Stuttering is a multidimensional disorder that can be exacerbated by negative responses from listeners. As listeners' perceptions can affect the social participation and psychological well-being of people who stutter(PWS), it is important to exami...
Stuttering is a multidimensional disorder that can be exacerbated by negative responses from listeners. As listeners' perceptions can affect the social participation and psychological well-being of people who stutter(PWS), it is important to examine the factors that influence such perceptions. Stuttering acknowledgment, in which PWS openly acknowledge their stuttering to listeners, has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy to promote more positive responses from listeners. However, the effects of stuttering acknowledgment may vary depending on various listener and speaker characteristics. Therefore, the primary purposes of the current study were to examine the effects of stuttering acknowledgment by an adult female who stutters on university students' perceptions of stuttering, and to determine whether such perceptions would differ according to listeners' gender, enrollment in a speech-language pathology(SLP) program, and acquaintance with PWS.
A total of 207 university students(92 males, 115 females) participated in this study. Participants watched one of two video clips featuring a female speaker who stutters, either acknowledging or not acknowledging her stuttering. After watching the video clip the participants completed Bipolar Adjective Scale(BAS) and Alabama Stuttering Knowledge Test(ASK). Two-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine main and interaction effects of stuttering acknowledgment and each listener characteristic on stuttering perception.
The results showed that those who watched the video clip with stuttering acknowledgment rated the female who stuttered more positively than those who watched the video clip without stuttering acknowledgment. In addition female university students rated more negatively than male university students in two items of BAS. Moreover university students majoring SLP program rated the speaker more positively than non-SLP students on 7 items of BAS, suggesting that stuttering-related education may contribute to more positive attitudes toward PWS. Acquaintance with PWS showed a significant main effect on only 1 item of BAS, indicating a limited influence on overall stuttering perception. However there was no difference in ASK scores according to stuttering acknowledgment and other listeners’ characteristics.
When the female speaker acknowledged her stuttering, listeners perceived her as more warm, bold, friendly, relaxed, extroverted, challenging, and stable. These results suggest that stuttering acknowledgment would be influential in modifying listeners' perceptions of PWS, and highlight the clinical importance of incorporating self-acknowledgment strategies into stuttering intervention.