Behavioral and Nonbehavioral Variables in the Measurement of Stutterers' Communication Attitudes

Abstract

The influence of the behavioral variables, stuttering and speech, and the nonbehavioral variables, feelings or attitudes regarding speech, on stutterers' responses to the modified Erickson Communication Attitude Scale (known as the S24) was investigated in two studies. In the first study, 19 adult stutterers answered an amended version of the S24 Scale; it permitted subjects to nominate the basis of their response to each item on the Scale. The findings indicated that subjects regarded their responses to Scale items as largely influenced by their judgments about their stuttering and speech behavior. The second study involved within-subject experiments with three adult male stutterers. Each subject identified those situations that influenced answers on the S24 Scale. Six weekly recordings of the subjects' speech in these situations showed that stuttering frequency was consistently higher in situations associated with item responses implying negative attitudes than in situations associated with positive attitude responses. The findings challenge the claim that the S24 Scale primarily assesses feelings or attitudes regarding speech or interpersonal communication.