This is the story of my life, I stutter the most around close friends and family, then less around strangers and almost never on dates. Should be opposite right? I think it’s 2 main reasons, one being you’re a lot more self aware in situations like meeting new people, or going on dates, so you make an effort to not stutter, whether you realize it or not. It’s like practicing a sport vs playing in a real game. And second I think the #1 thing that worsens people’s stutter is being too high or low in emotions: excitement or nervousness. People don’t realize it but they’re usually excited to tell their close friends or family, a funny story from their day, or anything for that matter because it’s their main social group. Being excited can easily get you too worked up to to manage your stutter and it creeps on everyone since their guard is down around the people they actually want to share things with and don’t see socializing as a chore. When on a date, you’re very conscious of how you’re acting and what you’re saying, especially on whether you stutter or not, so although a date might seem exciting, it’s almost an artificial excitement as you’re trying to be on your best behavior as opposed to talking about your day with friends/ family. The more I was aware of this ‘excitement’ aspect, the less I started to stutter infront of friends/ family, which meant a great improvement on my stutter in general