Stuttering attitudes among Turkish family generations and neighbors from representative samples

Abstract

Purpose: Attitudes toward stuttering, measured by the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S), are compared among (a) two different representative samples; (b) family generations (children, parents, and either grandparents or uncles and aunts) and neighbors; (c) children, parents, grandparents/adult relatives, and neighbors of the same family/neighbor units vs. individuals from different family/neighbor units; and (d) attitudes from one Turkish city with an international database archive. Methods: Following a school-based, three-stage, cluster probability sampling scheme, two sets of children, parents, grandparents/adult relatives, and neighbors (50 each) in Eskisehir, Turkey (PROB1 and PROB2) completed Turkish translations of the POSHA-S. The POSHA-S measures attitudes toward stuttering within the context of other attributes, such as obesity and mental illness. Results: Both replicates of the sampling procedure yielded strikingly similar attitudes for stuttering between children, parents, grandparents/adult relatives, and neighbors in PROB1 vs. PROB2, and between all pair-wise comparisons within PROB1 and PROB2. By contrast, attitudes toward obesity and mental illness were dissimilar. Correlations were small to moderate among attitudes of the same family/neighbor units but were essentially nonexistent between different family/neighbor units. Attitudes toward stuttering in Eskisehir were estimated to be less positive than attitudes from a wide range of samples around the world, although exceptions occurred. Conclusions: A school-based probability sampling procedure yielded consistent findings that are likely different from results from convenience samples. Families appear to be an important influence in determining public attitudes toward stuttering and other human attributes. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (i) identify similarities and differences among attitudes toward stuttering across generations; (ii) identify similarities and differences among attitudes toward stuttering in Turkey vs. other places in the world; (iii) describe a school-based probability sampling scheme; (iv) describe advantages of using a standard instrument to measure public attitudes toward stuttering