Fear of Negative Evaluation, Trait Anxiety, and Judgment Bias in Adults who Stutter

Abstract

Judgment bias in PWS is mediated by the magnitude of FNE present; not all PWS exhibit judgment bias for social situations. Treatment implications include the need for psychosocial support addressing the negative impacts on quality of life and restrictions on social engagement that stuttering may cause in some individuals.

Rodgers, Lau, & Zebrowski (preprint) - "Examining the effects of stuttering and social anxiety on interpretations of ambiguous social scenarios among adolescents"

“…One related previous study investigated the relationship between fear of negative evaluation (a core component of social phobia) and judgment bias (another form of cognitive bias) among adults who do and do not stutter (Brundage et al, 2017).…”

Comparing the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy and mindfulness and acceptance group therapy for adults who stutter: A randomized clinical trial

“…In several studies, it has been shown that AWSs scores on the Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD) were higher than control groups. [ 8 9 10 ] Based on the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and stuttering, it was suggested that anxiety reduction strategies should be considered as another focus of stuttering treatment along with speech therapy (ST). [ 11 ]…”

Cognitive bias and stuttering in adolescence

“…This study is the first empirical investigation of interpretation bias and stuttering. One related previous study investigated the relationship between fear of negative evaluation (FNE; a core component of social phobia) and judgment bias (another form of cognitive bias) among adults who do and do not stutter (Brundage et al, 2017). Although the adults who stutter in that study reported higher degrees of FNE than the non-stuttering adults, both groups perceived threat in ambiguous scenarios comparably.…”

“…In a more naturalistic context of giving an oral presenation, adults who stutter have shown to look more at negative and neutral audience members than at positive ones (Lowe et al, 2012), although this selective attention towards negative faces did not appear in the results of that research group's dot-probe task (Lowe et al, 2016). In a more explicit bias task measuring judgement bias, fear of negative evaluation (a central component of social anxiety) mediated the degree of perceived social threat among adults who stutter (Brundage, Winters, & Beilby, 2017). This collection of preliminary evidence suggests a promising link between stuttering, cognitive bias, and social anxiety, although the majority of this burgeoning line of work has related to adults who stutter.…”

“…They found that those with high FNE perceived greater threat than those with low FNE. These findings suggested that the presence of high FNE, rather than a diagnosis of stuttering alone, perpetuates fear or anxiety (Brundage et al, 2017). This type of analysis wherein the stuttering group is partitioned into high and low anxiety groups should be applied in future investigations to observe patterns of interpretation bias for aWS with varying levels of social anxiety.…”