Psychometric Properties and Configural Invariance of the Polish - Language Version of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in Non-clinical and Alcohol Addict Persons

Dawid Konrad Ścigała; Elżbieta Zdankiewicz-Ścigała; Sylwia Bedyńska; Andrzej Kokoszka

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01241

Psychometric Properties and Configural Invariance of the Polish - Language Version of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in Non-clinical and Alcohol Addict Persons

Front Psychol. 2020 Jun 17:11:1241. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01241. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Dawid Konrad Ścigała¹, Elżbieta Zdankiewicz-Ścigała², Sylwia Bedyńska², Andrzej Kokoszka³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland.
² Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
³ II Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

Aim: The development and assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polish-language version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby et al., 1994a, b) is described in this article. The aim of this study was to translate the TAS - 20 into Polish and establish the psychometric properties of this instrument evaluating alexithymia.

Materials and methods: Data were collected via self-report measures from a total sample of 676 participants: a total of 180 participants (115 males and 65 females) diagnosed with alcohol dependence, and 496 control group (347 males and 149 females).

Results: Confirmatory factor analyses found the factor structure of the original English-language TAS 20 for the three subscales translated into Polish: Difficulty in Identifying Feeling (DIF); Difficulty in Describing Feeling (DDF); Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT). All three subscales showed good internal consistency in non-clinical group and two subscales, DIF and DDF in alcohol addict group. Several EOT items loaded poorly on their intended factor.

Conclusion: The results from the present study indicate that the Polish version of the TAS - 20 is a reliable and valid measure of alexithymia with good levels of internal consistency, homogeneity, and construct validity. We conclude that the TAS-20 has, for the most part, adequate psychometric properties, though interpretation should focus only on the total scale score and DIF and DDF subscales, especially in clinical groups.

Keywords: TAS-20PL; Toronto Alexithymia Scale; addiction; alexithymia; configural invariance; psychometric factor structure invariance.