A comparison of stuttering attitudes among nonstuttering children and parents in Bosnia & Herzegovina
Background Universally, negative or misinformed stuttering attitudes abound, which often lead to inaccurate stereotyping and/or stigmatization of people who stutter [1]. Attitudes toward any phenomenon are partly formed by what a person believes to be true, as well as how they feel and react toward that phenomenon [2]. In stuttering, attitudinal research has been particularly critical in global efforts to reduce marginalization of people who stutter. St. Louis [3] developed a standard and translatable stuttering attitude instrument, the Public Opinion Survey on Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S), which provides an impression about respondents’ overall beliefs about stuttering and Purpose: A growing body of research has addressed children’s stuttering attitudes between preschool and upper elementary school. Attitudes among preschoolers and kindergarteners have been reported to be much lower that fifth graders’ attitudes, at which time children’s attitudes seemingly converge with their parents’ attitudes. It has been suggested these observed changes align with children’s social and cognitive development and are resistant to the influence of other variables, such as their culture. The purposes of this study were (a) to extend cultural examinations of children’s stuttering attitudes in a sample of kindergarteners through sixth graders in Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H), and (b) to compare their attitudes with their parents’ attitudes.