Behavioral, social, and emotional well-being in children who stutter: the influence of race-ethnicity

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine if reports of behavioral, emotional and social well-being in children who stutter differ across racial-ethnic groups.

Materials and methods

Using 2010–2015 National Health Interview Surveys, data was analyzed from responses of children who stutter’s parents, in the United States, to items of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Parent responses of reporting Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire items were determined using multiple logistic regression analyses.

Results

This sample included a total 42,962 children, of which 875 were identified as children who stutter. Among the children who stutter, reports of well-being were compared from 294 non-Hispanic White, 249 non-Hispanic Black, and 332 Hispanic children who stutter. Results indicated Black children who stutter were less likely than White children who stutter to have many worries, to be unhappy/depressed, and less likely to have difficulties with emotions and concentration. Hispanic children who stutter were less likely than White children who stutter to have many worries, to be unhappy/depressed, and less likely to have difficulties with emotions and concentration. Additionally, differences were observed in measures of behavioral, emotional, and social well-being when within-group comparisons were made, as a function of gender, and when comparisons were made across racial-ethnic groups at different age ranges.

Conclusions

Evidence from National Health Interview Surveys suggests racial-ethnic differences exist in reports of behavioral, emotional, and social well-being among children who stutter. Future research is needed to clarify specific contributors to the observed differences across racial-ethnic groups and whether differences are primarily associated with race-ethnicity, the presence of stuttering, or both.

Keywords:

• Stuttering
• race
• ethnicity
• well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patrick M. Briley

Patrick Briley, PhD, is a clinical researcher in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorder at East Carolina University. He is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist. He specializes in the area of stuttering where his research is designed to understand contributors to overall impact of stuttering. Dr. Briley is also the director of the Fluency Management Program of the Carolinas (FMPC), an intensive fluency program, which teaches strategies to promote management of speech amidst the influence of stuttering, while also working to reduce avoidance behaviors commonly implemented by people who stutter.

Charles Ellis

Charles Ellis, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at East Carolina University. He is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist. He is the director of the Communication Equity and Outcomes Laboratory where research is designed to understand outcomes associated with adult neurologically based disorders of communication and factors that contribute to the lack of equity in service provision and outcome disparities existing among some population groups. Dr. Ellis was awarded the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Certificate of Recognition for Special Contribution in Multicultural Affairs in 2011 and Fellowship of ASHA in 2014.