EFFECTS OF STUTTERING SEVERITY DISCLOSURES ON LISTENER PERCEPTIONS OF A FEMALE ADOLESCENT WHO STUTTERS

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure whether factual self-disclosure statements with differing levels of overt stuttering severity have effect on listener perceptions regarding an adolescent female who stutters (AFWS). Method: A total of 759 adults participated in this study. Participants were gathered through a nationwide campaign to various universities via email. There were four overt severity experimental conditions (control, fluent, mild and moderate-severe); participant assignments were balanced such that each experimental condition had comparable population demographics. Each condition contained a video stimulus of an adolescent female providing a factual disclosure statement identifying herself as a person who stutters. Following the disclosure stimulus video, a core stuttering stimulus video rated as moderate-severe was shown to all participants. Following the video stimuli, participants were asked to complete a survey to rate speech skills and personal characteristics of the AFWS, using a 7-point Likert scale. Results: These data findings interpret that mild overt severity factual self-disclosure statements are preferred among listeners in speech skills of speech intelligibility (p= 0.013), speech volume (p= 0.004), and ease of listening (p= 0.004). Conclusion: Results indicate that the use of factual disclosure statements by an AFWS substantially differ from previous research based on adolescent males. As such, these data indicate a significant gender discrepancy relative to the clinical application of factual self-disclosures in young people who stutter. Limitations, strengths, clinical relevance, and future research are discussed