Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter
The purpose of this study was to examine temperament dimensions, executive functioning ability, and anxiety levels in school-age children who stutter and their non-stuttering peers. Participants were 100 Portuguese children aged 7 to 12 years (M = 9.13; SD = 1.70), including 50 children who stutter...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-10-01
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doaj-c4d2e3adfb29488183eea3288c8156f62020-11-24T21:32:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-10-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.02244464221Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who StutterMónica Soares Rocha0J. Scott Yaruss1Joana R. Rato2Institute of Health Sciences, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, PortugalDepartment of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesCentre for Interdisciplinary Research in Health, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, PortugalThe purpose of this study was to examine temperament dimensions, executive functioning ability, and anxiety levels in school-age children who stutter and their non-stuttering peers. Participants were 100 Portuguese children aged 7 to 12 years (M = 9.13; SD = 1.70), including 50 children who stutter and 50 children who do not stutter. Analyses, which were performed separately for younger and older participants, sought to identify correlations between key variables. Temperament was evaluated through a parent questionnaire, executive functioning was evaluated through children’s responses on a performance test, and anxiety level was assessed through a self-perception scale. On the temperament measure, comparisons between children who stutter and their non-stuttering peers revealed that older children who stutter exhibited significantly higher scores on the Anger/Frustration, Impulsivity, and Sadness subscales, and lower averages on the Attention/Focusing, Perceptual sensitivity, and Soothability/Falling Reactivity subscales. On the executive functioning task, comparisons revealed that the group of younger children who stutter exhibited significantly higher average execution times than their non-stuttering peers. There were no statistically significant differences in anxiety between children who stutter and children who do not stutter, and there were no statistically significant correlations between temperament factors and measures of executive functioning. Children who stutter experienced lower ability to orient attention and greater emotional reactivity compared with their non-stuttering peers. Significant correlations were found between executive functioning and age and among the temperament factors themselves. These results, which support the need for a multidimensional view of stuttering, were interpreted in the context of the Dual Diathesis – Stressor model. Findings indicate that temperament and executive functioning abilities may contribute to the development of stuttering.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02244/fulltemperamentexecutive functionsanxietystutteringschool-age children |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Mónica Soares Rocha J. Scott Yaruss Joana R. Rato |
spellingShingle |
Mónica Soares Rocha J. Scott Yaruss Joana R. Rato Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter Frontiers in Psychology temperament executive functions anxiety stuttering school-age children |
author_facet |
Mónica Soares Rocha J. Scott Yaruss Joana R. Rato |
author_sort |
Mónica Soares Rocha |
title |
Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter |
title_short |
Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter |
title_full |
Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter |
title_fullStr |
Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter |
title_full_unstemmed |
Temperament, Executive Functioning, and Anxiety in School-Age Children Who Stutter |
title_sort |
temperament, executive functioning, and anxiety in school-age children who stutter |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2019-10-01 |
description |
The purpose of this study was to examine temperament dimensions, executive functioning ability, and anxiety levels in school-age children who stutter and their non-stuttering peers. Participants were 100 Portuguese children aged 7 to 12 years (M = 9.13; SD = 1.70), including 50 children who stutter and 50 children who do not stutter. Analyses, which were performed separately for younger and older participants, sought to identify correlations between key variables. Temperament was evaluated through a parent questionnaire, executive functioning was evaluated through children’s responses on a performance test, and anxiety level was assessed through a self-perception scale. On the temperament measure, comparisons between children who stutter and their non-stuttering peers revealed that older children who stutter exhibited significantly higher scores on the Anger/Frustration, Impulsivity, and Sadness subscales, and lower averages on the Attention/Focusing, Perceptual sensitivity, and Soothability/Falling Reactivity subscales. On the executive functioning task, comparisons revealed that the group of younger children who stutter exhibited significantly higher average execution times than their non-stuttering peers. There were no statistically significant differences in anxiety between children who stutter and children who do not stutter, and there were no statistically significant correlations between temperament factors and measures of executive functioning. Children who stutter experienced lower ability to orient attention and greater emotional reactivity compared with their non-stuttering peers. Significant correlations were found between executive functioning and age and among the temperament factors themselves. These results, which support the need for a multidimensional view of stuttering, were interpreted in the context of the Dual Diathesis – Stressor model. Findings indicate that temperament and executive functioning abilities may contribute to the development of stuttering. |
topic |
temperament executive functions anxiety stuttering school-age children |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02244/full |
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