The Peer Attitudes Toward Children who Stutter (PATCS) scale: an evaluation of validity, reliability and the negativity of attitudes.
BACKGROUND
Persistent calls for school-based education about stuttering necessitate a better understanding of peer attitudes toward children who stutter and a means to measure outcomes of such educational interventions. Langevin and Hagler in 2004 developed the Peer Attitudes Toward Children who Stutter scale (PATCS) to address these needs and gave preliminary evidence of reliability and construct validity.


OBJECTIVE
To examine further the psychometric properties of PATCS and to examine the negativity of attitudes.


METHODS
PATCS was administered to 760 Canadian children in grades 3-6. Measures included reliability, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), a known groups analysis, convergent validity with the Pro-Victim Scale of Rigby and Slee, and the negativity of attitudes.


RESULTS
PATCS appears to tap a second-order general attitude factor and three first-order factors representing the constructs of Positive Social Distance (PSD), Social Pressure (SP), and Verbal Interaction (VI). In the known groups analysis, participants who had contact with someone who stutters had higher scores (more positive attitudes) than those who had not, and girls had higher scores than boys. PATCS correlated moderately (0.43, p<0.01) with the Pro-Victim scale. Finally, one-fifth (21.7%) of participants had scores that were somewhat to very negative.


CONCLUSIONS
Results provide evidence of the validity and reliability of PATCS and confirm the need for school-based education about stuttering. The PSD and SP factors suggest that education include discussions about (1) similarities and differences among children who do and do not stutter in order to increase acceptance, and (2) making personal choices and handling peer pressure in thinking about children who stutter. The VI factor suggests that open discussion about stuttering may alleviate frustration experienced by listeners and provide the opportunity to give strategies for responding appropriately. Results also suggest that education involve contact with a person who stutters.
Langevin
Marilyn
M
Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. marilyn.langevin@ualberta.ca
Kleitman
Sabina
S
Packman
Ann
A
Onslow
Mark
M
D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D013342:Stuttering / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires