THE EFFECTS OF LIFE STRESSORS AND DAILY STRESSORS ON STUTTERING

This study systematically documented the effect of perceived daily str ess on subjective and objective measures of disfluencies in 12 adults who stuttered and 12 adults who did not stutter. Subjects participated In a prospective research study for 22 consecutive days. Measures of life stress, daily stress, and self-ratings of fluency were obtained, Subjects were trained in rating their fluency levels (self-ratings of fluency) and perceived daily stress levels (frequency and perceived im pact of daily stressors). Results revealed a significantly higher numb er of daily stressors endorsed by subjects who stutter. Subjects who s tuttered also displayed a significantly greater number of disfluencies and higher self-ratings of disfluencies on ''high-stress'' days. No s ignificant differences were found between the mean total scores For li fe stress or impact scores For daily stress for the two groups. These data suggest that day-to-day variations in stuttering could be related to multiple, minor, daily stressors in some persons who stutter impli cations for treatments involving cognitive restructuring and desensiti zation are discussed.