Face Masks and Stuttering: How COVID-19 Reduced Bullying Risks for Children

Background: Stuttering is a fluency disorder that affects speech production. Children who stutter face a higher likelihood of being bullied than their fluent peers, emphasizing the need for early detection and prevention. The COVID-19 pandemic has mandated mask wearing in Japan for three years, prompting this study to investigate whether there have been changes in bullying experiences among children who stutter.

Methods: A comparative analysis was conducted between two periods: the unmasked period (2012-2017) with 98 participants and the masked period during the pandemic (2020-2023) with 75 participants. Children aged 5–12 years were directly questioned about unpleasant experiences such as imitation, questioning, and being laughed at.

Results: Bullying occurrence during the unmasked period was 70.4% and decreased to 45.3% during the masked period, indicating a 25% reduction in bullying. Age-specific analysis revealed statistically significant reductions in bullying due to mask-wearing for 5-year-olds and 9-year-olds.

Discussion: This study revealed a reduction in stuttering-related bullying due to mask wearing, likely due to diminished visual cues and auditory attenuation associated with stuttering. In the future, as mask wearing becomes less common, it is important to be cautious, as there is a possibility of an increase in bullying requiring attention.