Assessing alexithymia and emotional awareness: relations between measures in a German non-clinical sample

Compr Psychiatry. 2014 May;55(4):952-9. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2013.12.013. Epub 2013 Dec 21.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties and relations between two different methods of measuring alexithymia and one measure of emotional awareness in a German non-clinical sample. The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA), and the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), which is a performance-based measure of emotional awareness, were administered to 84 university students. Both internal reliability and inter-rater reliability for the TSIA were acceptable. Results from exploratory factor analysis (EFA) based on all measures supported a three factorial solution previously obtained in an American sample using multiple methods of alexithymia and emotional ability measurement. In our three factor model direct self (TAS-20), direct other (TSIA), and indirect self (LEAS) measures were differentiated. The convergent validity of the TSIA was supported by a significant correlation with the LEAS. Our findings suggest that future research on alexithymia and emotional awareness can benefit from the use of a multi-method approach and should include objective measures.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Affective Symptoms / diagnosis*
  • Affective Symptoms / psychology*
  • Awareness*
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Emotions*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Personality Assessment / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data
  • Reference Values
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Students / psychology
  • Young Adult