Jobs, sex, love and lifestyle: when nonstutterers assume the roles of stutterers.
OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the impact of stuttering via a questionnaire in which fluent individuals were asked to assume the mindset of persons who stutter (PWS) in various life aspects, including vocation, romance, daily activities, friends/social life, family and general lifestyle. The perceived impact of stuttering through the mind's eyes of nonstutterers is supposed to reflect respondents' abilities to impart 'theory of mind' in addressing social penalties related to stuttering.


METHODS
Ninety-one university students answered a questionnaire containing 56 statements on a 7-point Likert scale. Forty-four participants (mean age = 20.4, SD = 4.4) were randomly selected to assume a stuttering identity and 47 respondents (mean age = 20.5, SD = 3.1) to assume their normally fluent identity.


RESULTS
Significant differences between groups were found in more than two thirds of items regarding employment, romance, and daily activities, and in fewer than half of items regarding family, friend/social life, and general life style (p <0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The social penalties associated with stuttering appear to be apparent to fluent individuals, especially in areas of vocation, romance, and daily activities, suggesting that nonstuttering individuals, when assuming the role of PWS, are capable of at least temporarily feeling the negative impact of stuttering.
Zhang
Jianliang
J
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA.
Saltuklaroglu
Tim
T
Hough
Monica
M
Kalinowski
Joseph
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D013342:Stuttering / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult