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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 17 Oct 2012
Time: 09:00:36 -0500
Remote Name: 157.182.15.121
Hi Joseph, I have been studying public attitudes toward stuttering for about 13 years now. In the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) which has been administered in 22 countries and 14 languages so far (with 9 more countries and 5 more languages underway). Three untrue causes of stuttering are rated as "yes," "no," or "not sure." Converting the data to -100 to +100 score where 0 = neutral and higher scores reflect better attitudes (or in these cases where respondents reject the causes). From nearly 160 samples analyzed so far representing nearly 7000 respondents, the lowest (worst), highest (best), and median sample means for stuttering is caused by (a) an act of God, (b) a virus or disease, or (c) ghosts, demons, or spirits were as follows. (a) Act of God: -82, 100, 63; (b) Virus or Disease: -83, 97, 51; (c) Ghosts, demons, or spirits: 15, 100, 89. So most people reject all three of these as causes of stuttering, but a few do not. Incidentally, the lowest mean rating for Ghosts, demons, or spirits was from a sample of French-speaking Cameroonians (15). The next lowest was a sample of 6th graders in Turkey (38). The next lowest after that was from a sample of students in Kuwait (41). I hope a some data will help you make sense of the suggestion that witchcraft is associated with stuttering. Ken