Investigating psychological differences between persons who stutter, recovered persons who stutter, and persons who do not stutter

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-43)The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a significant distinction in trait anxiety, communication apprehension, executive function, and coping strategies of persons who stutter, recovered persons who stutter, and persons who do not stutter. Participants included 141 undergraduate students, with a mean age of 19 years old with diverse ethnic backgrounds. After undergoing a prescreening procedure, participants completed four counterbalanced measures assessing target factors: Beck Anxiety Inventory, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version, Erikson's Modified Communication Attitude Scale, and COPE. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant group distinction on all four factors of interest at 0.05 and 0.01 levels. A mediation model revealed a direct relationship between stuttering and executive function. In addition to this, anxiety was found to serve as a mediator between stuttering, communication apprehension and executive function. Findings suggest treatment should focus on psychological factors described in this study in addition to fluent speech production