Emotion regulation, empathy, and theory of mind in children with childhood-onset fluency disorder: a multidimensional social-cognitive perspective.

Résumé

Stuttering is increasingly recognized as a neurodevelopmental condition extending beyond speech-motor disruptions to include socio-emotional and social-cognitive processes. This study examined emotion regulation, empathy, and theory of mind (ToM) in children who stutter (CWS) compared to typically developing peers. Eighty school-aged children (41 CWS, 39 children who do not stutter [CWNS]) were assessed using the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC), Bryant Index of Empathy (BIE), and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test - Child Version (RMET-C). CWS demonstrated significantly greater emotion regulation difficulties (higher Lability/Negativity and total ERC scores; all