Back to Search
Start Over
Do self-report measures of alexithymia measure alexithymia or general psychological distress? A factor analytic examination across five samples.
- Source :
-
Personality & Individual Differences . Mar2020, Vol. 155, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- • There are concerns that alexithymia questionnaires might actually measure distress. • We examined this possibility in three alexithymia measures using factor analysis. • The PAQ and BVAQ had good discriminant validity against the distress factor. • In contrast, the TAS-20 DIF subscale cross-loaded onto the distress factor. • The field has mainly used the TAS-20, so these results may have wide implications. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01918869
- Volume :
- 155
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Personality & Individual Differences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 141239232
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109721