Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and resilience-related protective factors in persons who stutter: a cross-sectional comparative and correlational study

This study aimed to compare cognitive emotion regulation strategies and resilience-related protective factors between people who stutter (PWS) and people who do not stutter (PWNS), and to examine within-group associations between resilience-related protective factor scores and cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The cross-sectional sample comprised 140 adults (PWS, n = 69; PWNS, n = 71), aged 18–65 years. Group assignment was based on participants’ self-identification of stuttering status, without independent clinical confirmation. Participants completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and the Protective Factors for Resilience Scale (PFRS). Sex distribution was compared using Pearson’s chi-square test, whereas age category and education level were compared using Fisher–Freeman–Halton exact tests because of sparse expected cell counts. Group comparisons were performed using independent-samples t tests or Mann–Whitney U tests according to distributional assumptions, with effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals reported. Within-group associations were examined using Pearson or Spearman correlations, and Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied separately to the 36 subscale-level correlations within each group. No statistically significant between-group differences were observed in sex distribution (PWS: 37 men, 32 women; PWNS: 29 men, 42 women; χ²(1) = 2.29, p = .130), age (Fisher–Freeman–Halton exact p = .709), or education (Fisher–Freeman–Halton exact p = .670). No significant between-group differences were found for any of the nine CERQ subscales, and all corresponding effect sizes were small. PWS reported lower Personal, Peer, Family, and Total PFRS scores, with small-to-moderate rank-biserial effects. After Benjamini–Hochberg FDR correction across 36 subscale-level correlations per group, 12 positive associations involving positive refocusing, refocus on planning, and positive reappraisal remained significant in the PWS group, whereas no correlations remained significant in the PWNS group. No statistically significant between-group differences were detected across the nine CERQ subscales, while PWS reported lower resilience-related protective resource scores. The observed within-group correlations suggest that adaptive cognitive regulation may be relevant to the psychosocial experience of stuttering; however, the cross-sectional and exploratory nature of the analyses precludes causal or between-group inferences about correlation strength.