10.26153/TSW/10062
Werle, Danielle Rae
Stuttering in academia : minimizing stereotype threat for college students who stutter
The University of Texas at Austin
2020
Stuttering
Stigma
Stereotype threat
Self-disclosure
The University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin
Byrd, Courtney T.
2020-10-02
2020-10-02
2020-08
2020-08-17
August 202
2020-10-02
en
Thesis
https://hdl.handle.net/2152/83061
application/pdf
Although stuttering is a neurophysiological disorder with a genetic predisposition, the persisting stereotype threat is that stuttering is psychological with persons who stutter being mis-perceived as more nervous, less intelligent, and less capable of fulfilling roles that require significant communication. These misperceptions have been documented in children who do and do not stutter, adults who do and do not stutter, parents, and professionals across a wide variety of disciplines. In the university setting, professors’ perceptions of students may impact student aspirations, as well as academic and/or vocational outcomes; and persons who stutter appear to be uniquely at risk for professors viewing them more negatively. While previous literature has documented that professors have negative stereotypes of students who stutter, perceptual data regarding students who stutter has been conducted exclusively on hypothetical students. Furthermore, to date, researchers have not yet investigated whether students who stutter actually report that they experience the negative perceptions that have been documented among college professors when they have been asked to consider hypothetical students who stutter. Therefore, one aim of this study was to investigate professors’ perceptions of students who stutter as reported directly from the perspective of students who stutter, and how those perceptions impact student engagement. A second aim of this study was to investigate professors’ perceptions and academic evaluations of students who stutter in response to video, compared to hypothetical, stimuli. A final aim of this study was to assess the influence of two treatment strategies, self-disclosure and strategies for communication competence, on professor perceptions and evaluations of students who stutter. Results of this study indicated that students who stutter report they are perceived more negatively by their professors than their fluent peers, and that these experienced perceptions drive aspects of student engagement in the classroom. Results further demonstrated that professors do in fact perceive and evaluate students who stutter differently, and those perceptions and evaluations are moderated by the presence of communication behaviors consistent with the stuttering stereotype (e.g., reduced eye contact and vocal volume, body posturing and movements indicating nervousness). Finally, results indicated that the use of self-disclosure, and strategies that indicate high communication competence may mitigate negative perceptions of students who stutter by professors. Clinical implications for students who stutter, speech-language pathologists, and professors are discussed.