TY - JOUR
T1 - Do self-report measures of alexithymia measure alexithymia or general psychological distress? A factor analytic examination across five samples
AU - Preece, David A.
AU - Becerra, Rodrigo
AU - Boyes, Mark E.
AU - Northcott, Chelsea
AU - McGillivray, Lauren
AU - Hasking, Penelope A.
PY - 2020/3
Y1 - 2020/3
N2 - Alexithymia is a multidimensional trait comprised of difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is most commonly assessed using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). However, over the past two decades, some authors have suggested that the TAS-20 might assess current levels of distress rather than levels of alexithymia. We explored this possibility by administering three alexithymia questionnaires, including the TAS-20, and a measure of psychological distress to five samples (Ns=300, 128, 216, 148, 103). In each sample, we used second-order exploratory factor analysis to test whether the alexithymia subscales loaded, as intended, on a separate factor to the distress subscales. All subscales of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) and Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ) demonstrated good discriminant validity against the distress factor. In contrast, the difficulties identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20 consistently cross-loaded onto the distress factor, indicating that much of its variance reflected current levels of distress, not alexithymia. This could limit the utility of the TAS-20, and the results of studies using it may need to be interpreted with this in mind. The PAQ and BVAQ appear to be good self-report alternatives for measuring alexithymia as a construct that is separable from distress.
AB - Alexithymia is a multidimensional trait comprised of difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is most commonly assessed using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). However, over the past two decades, some authors have suggested that the TAS-20 might assess current levels of distress rather than levels of alexithymia. We explored this possibility by administering three alexithymia questionnaires, including the TAS-20, and a measure of psychological distress to five samples (Ns=300, 128, 216, 148, 103). In each sample, we used second-order exploratory factor analysis to test whether the alexithymia subscales loaded, as intended, on a separate factor to the distress subscales. All subscales of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) and Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ) demonstrated good discriminant validity against the distress factor. In contrast, the difficulties identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20 consistently cross-loaded onto the distress factor, indicating that much of its variance reflected current levels of distress, not alexithymia. This could limit the utility of the TAS-20, and the results of studies using it may need to be interpreted with this in mind. The PAQ and BVAQ appear to be good self-report alternatives for measuring alexithymia as a construct that is separable from distress.
KW - Alexithymia
KW - Bermond Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire
KW - Distress
KW - Negative affect
KW - Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire
KW - Toronto Alexithymia Scale
KW - Validity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075817878&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109721
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109721
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075817878
VL - 155
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
SN - 0191-8869
M1 - 109721
ER -