Regression to the mean in measures of attitudes related to stuttering, disability, metacognitive awareness, and emotional intelligence

Introduction: A series of recent studies using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering (POSHA–S) have documented an extreme case of regression to the mean (RTM) or a “crossover” effect in public attitudes toward stuttering. Respondents were previously sorted according to changes in their attitudes. The “crossover” effect revealed that respondents with the highest pre-test scores had the lowest post-test scores, those with the lowest pre-test scores had the highest post-test scores, and those with intermediate scores changed minimally. Method: In this study, RTM was evaluated in four different measures from two USA samples: Bipolar Adjective Scale (BAS), Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale, and Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). Results: The “crossover” effect was observed in three of these scales as well as in one of two POSHA–S scores. Due to lower-than-expected test-retest correlations, correction for regression to the mean diminished or eliminated the “crossover” effect in some of the measures. Conclusions: Overall, the study showed that the “crossover” effect can be observed in widely different pre- versus post-test measures.