A parent-report scale of behavioral inhibition: Validation and application to preschool-age children who do and do not stutter.
Katerina Ntourou, Elizabeth Oyler DeFranco, Edward G Conture and 2 others
PMID 32065916WHAT IT FOUND
Preschoolers who stutter scored higher on behavioral inhibition than fluent peers.
Higher inhibition correlated with greater stuttering frequency and severity. In children over four, inhibition also linked to more negative communication attitudes and stronger reactions to stuttering.
Key findings
01Children who stutter had significantly lower mean scores on the behavioral inhibition scale than fluent peers, indicating higher inhibition.
02Higher behavioral inhibition was a significant predictor of both stuttering frequency and stuttering severity in children who stutter.
03For children who stutter aged four and older, higher behavioral inhibition predicted more negative self-reported communication attitudes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if behavioral inhibition causes stuttering or results from it. The effect size for the difference in inhibition scores between CWS and CWNS was small, meaning there is considerable overlap between the groups. Behavioral inhibition was measured solely by parent report, which may introduce subjective bias. The link between inhibition and negative communication attitudes was only significant in children aged four and older, limiting generalizability to younger preschoolers.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H., Extramural).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that reducing behavioral inhibition will directly cure stuttering. The study shows an association, not causation, and the effect size for group differences was small. Furthermore, the link to negative attitudes was only found in children over four, so do not expect the same profile in three-year-olds.