Association between sex of the individual with untreated cleft lip and social judgement made by lay persons: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether there is an association between an individual's sex and social judgements made by lay persons regarding untreated cleft lip. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lay individuals over 18 years old were recruited through an application to respond online to two questionnaires a sociodemographic survey and the Brazilian Version of Lay Persons' Social Judgements about Cleft-lip Scale (B-LSojCleft-S). B-LSojCleft-S comprises 14 items evaluating social judgements made by laypersons concerning different types of untreated cleft lips in teenagers. The 14 items are linked to 8 images featuring untreated cleft lips and 1 image without a cleft (control). Higher scores represented more favourable social judgements. Independent samples t-test, paired, and multiple linear regression were conducted (P < 0.05). The study assessed judgements of untreated cleft lips in male and female adolescents using the B-LSojCleft-S. RESULTS: The mean age of the 217 participants was 37.78 ± 12.39 years, predominantly women (72.7%), married (47.7%), with a monthly income below three minimum wages (35.6%) in the majority of cases. Significantly higher social judgement scores were observed in the control group (no cleft) compared to any type of cleft (P < 0.001), with similar scores obtained for the same types of clefts with female or male images (P > 0.05). The participant's sex is associated with social judgement scores (F [1, 214] = 6.318, P = 0.013; adjusted R2 = 0.024), with females making more favourable judgements than males (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with cleft lips receive more negative social judgement scores, regardless of their own sex. Women make better social judgements than men.