Temperamental Characteristics of Pre-School Children Who Stutter

Purpose: Stuttering is a multi-dynamic disorder and there may be various factors related to development of stuttering. Temperamental characteristics of children who stutter (CWS) may be one of those factors but there are only a few Korean empirical studies on such characteristics of pre-school CWS. The primary purpose of the current study was to determine whether there would be differences in temperamental characteristics between pre-school CWS and children who do not stutter (CWNS). In addition the correlations between stuttering and temperament were determined. Methods: A total of 28 CWS and CWNS took part in the current study; 14 male CWS [mean age: 55.1 months, standard deviation (SD): 6.4] and 14 male CWNS (mean age: 54.1 months, SD: 4.8). The participants completed temperamental and psychological measures for children, such as Korean- Personality Rating Scale for Children, The Junior Temperament and Character Inventory 3-6, Korean Preschool Daily Stress Scale, and KiddyCAT. Results: The results of the current study showed that there was a statistically significant difference in Persistence and KiddyCAT scores between CWS and CWNS. Even though there was no significant relationship between temperament and stuttering for CWS several significant relationships were observed among temperament measure scores. Conclusion: These results suggested that temperamental characteristics may contribute to the development of stuttering partly. Accordingly multi-dimensional features should be considered in the clinical management of stuttering.