title: A speech and psychological profile of treatment-seeking adolescents who stutter.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between stuttering severity, psychological functioning, and overall impact of stuttering, in a large sample of adolescents who stutter.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 102 adolescents (11-17 years) seeking speech treatment for stuttering, including 86 boys and 16 girls, classified into younger (11-14 years, n=57) and older (15-17 years, n=45) adolescents. Linear regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between speech and psychological variables and overall impact of stuttering.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The impact of stuttering during adolescence is influenced by a complex interplay of speech and psychological variables. Anxiety and depression scores fell within normal limits. However, higher self-reported stuttering severity predicted higher anxiety and internalizing problems. Boys reported externalizing problems-aggression, rule-breaking-in the clinical range, and girls reported total problems in the borderline-clinical range. Overall, higher scores on measures of anxiety, stuttering severity, and speech dissatisfaction predicted a more negative overall impact of stuttering.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the largest cohort study of adolescents who stutter. Higher stuttering severity, speech dissatisfaction, and anxiety predicted a more negative overall impact of stuttering, indicating the importance of carefully managing the speech and psychological needs of adolescents who stutter. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between stuttering and externalizing problems for adolescent boys who stutter.
authors.affiliation: Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Electronic address: lisa.iverach@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Iverach
authors.affiliation: Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Electronic address: robyn.lowe@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Level 2, Public Health Building, Herston Road, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia. Electronic address: m.jones@sph.uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Electronic address: susan.obrian@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Brian
authors.affiliation: Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Electronic address: ross.menzies@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ross G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Menzies
authors.affiliation: Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Electronic address: ann.packman@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Packman
authors.affiliation: Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Electronic address: mark.onslow@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onslow
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D013060:Speech; D013342:Stuttering / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Adolescents; Anxiety; Avoidance; Quality of Life; Stuttering