Shyness among Children with and Without Stuttering: A Comparative Study

Stuttering can be found in all parts of the world in all cultures and races. It affects people of all ages regardless of intelligence or socioeconomic status.  The present study aims to compare the extent of shyness among stuttering and non-stuttering children.  A total of 160 subjects (80 stuttering and 80 non-stuttering) children were randomly selected from few schools and institutes of Karnataka state.  Shyness of the subjects was assessed through Shyness questionnaire developed by Crozier (1995). Shyness of students was measured in 3 domains-cognitive, social and physical, including total shyness scores. Two-way ANOVA was employed to find out the difference between stuttering and non-stuttering children in their shyness scores, along with gender effects. Results revealed that in all the domains and total shyness scores stutterers were shyer than non-stutterers. Female respondents were shyer than male respondents in physical domain of shyness. There was no significant interaction effect between groups and gender for individual domains and total shyness scores.