Purpose

The goal of this study was to evaluate possible associations between child- and mother-reported temperament, stuttering severity, and child-reported impact of stuttering in school-age children who stutter.

Method

Participants were 123 children who stutter (94 boys and 29 girls) who were between 9;0 and 14;10 (years;months) and their mothers. Temperament was assessed with the revised child and parent version of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire–Revised (Ellis & Rothbart, 2001). The Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (Yaruss & Quesal, 2006) was used to evaluate the stuttering impact.

Results

Child- and mother-reported Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire–Revised temperament factors correlated moderately. No statistically significant associations were found between temperament and stuttering severity. The temperament factors of Surgency (both child- and mother-reported) and Negative Affect (only child-reported) correlated moderately with the Overall Impact and several subsections (i.e., Speaker's Reactions, Daily Communication, and/or Quality of Life) of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering.

Conclusions

More extraverted and less fearful/shy children experience a lower overall impact of their stuttering. Children with higher levels of irritability and frustration experience a higher overall impact of their stuttering. Since children's ratings of temperament were more sensitive to these associations than mothers, this study supports the inclusion of child-reported temperament questionnaires in future research.