University students' attitudes toward people who stutter

Abstract

Introduction: In line with other studies on attitudes toward people who stutter, the aim of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of college students toward people who stutter. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive analytical study, 104 students studying at Golestan University of Medical Sciences filled out a questionnaire which contained 20 personality items. Each item was scored on the basis of a 1-to-7-point scale. Results: Study results indicated that except for “aggressive” (P = 0.584) and “calm” (P = 0.151) traits, there were statistically significant differences in all personality items between people who stutter and people who do not stutter (P < 0.05). In addition, the mean scores of negative traits were higher in people who stutter. Conclusion: Based on the study results, college students may have more negative attitudes towards people who do stutter than people who do not. Keywords: Attitude, Stuttering, Personality