Comparing anxiety and depression symptoms in children who do and do not stammer

Abstract

Purpose: Children who stammer may be at increased risk of anxiety compared to non-stammering peers. Although anxiety and depression commonly co-occur, there are few studies evaluating the association between childhood stammering and depression symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether children who do and do not stammer differ significantly in anxiety and depression symptoms, and the extent to which this association may vary depending on age and on the respondent. Methods: Forty-six children who stammer (8 – 15 years) and 46 children who do not stammer (10 – 14 years) and their parents, completed the Revised Children’s Anxiety & Depression Scale (RCADS-25). To determine whether groups differed significantly on anxiety and depression subscale scores, multiple regression models were fitted to the data, accounting for group differences in age and socio-economic status (SES). Intra-class correlation coefficients were calculated to assess parent-child agreement on each subscale.Results: Self-reported anxiety and depression symptoms increased with age in the stammering group but not in the comparison group. After accounting for age and SES, parents reported significantly higher anxiety, but not depression, symptoms for children who stammer. However, very few participants scored above clinical threshold on either subscale. Good agreement was found between parent- and child-reported symptom scores for the stammering group. Comparison of two community samples found no differences in likelihood of scoring above clinical threshold for anxiety or depression.Conclusion: Children who stammer may experience increasing anxiety and depression symptoms with age, although these findings need replication in larger, longitudinal studies. These findings underline the need for further research into internalising symptoms in children who stammer across development, and consideration of factors that may be associated with elevated risk for this population.