Abstract :
Background: People who stutter often face both speech difficulties and social challenges. In stressful social situations, they resort to safety behaviours to cope with anxiety. However, these behaviours can worsen anxiety over time and lead to less effective treatment outcomes. Research on females is limited due to higher childhood recovery rates, leading to a male-to-female ratio of 4:1 among adults. Negligible information is available on Indian females with persistent stuttering. Aim: This study explores the relationship between social anxiety and the frequency of safety behaviours among Indian females who stutter. Methods: Ten females who visited King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, for stuttering treatment participated in the study. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale assessed their social anxiety, and the Safety Behaviour Checklist 2023 assessed the usage frequency of specific safety behaviours during social encounters. Correlations were established between the frequency of safety behaviour and the pretreatment score of social anxiety. Results: The results showed that all ten participants experienced high levels of social anxiety and frequently used safety behaviours. Most safety behaviours were found to be positively correlated with social anxiety, except a few. Conclusion: This suggests a strong connection between social anxiety and the use of safety behaviours in females who stutter. However, a few exceptions indicate that some safety behaviours may have different underlying factors.
Keyword :
Females who stutter, social anxiety, safety behaviours, India, gender-sensitive interventions.