Impact of hope, humor, and self-stigma on flourishing and acceptance in adults who stutter

Abstract

This study’s purpose was to understand how humor is used as a coping strategy for people who stutter (PWS) and how humor contributes to an individual who stutters’ (IWS) overall quality of life. Five factors were examined to encompass the overall experience of an IWS related to moments of disfluency including: (1) stigma, (2) coping, (3) humor, (4) well-being and flourishing, (5) hope, and (6) acceptance. Adults who stutter over the age of 19 were recruited through joining groups on social media platforms with consent from group hosts in addition to distribution through the National Stuttering Association (NSA). In summary, conclusions revealed that the use of positive humor led to greater flourishing, high hope led to increased self-stigma, and high hope was correlated with decreased flourishing in the lives of IWS.