Assessing alexithymia: Psychometric properties of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in United States adults

Preece, D.A., Becerra, R., Allan, A., Robinson, K., Chen, W., Hasking, P. and Gross, J.J. (2020) Assessing alexithymia: Psychometric properties of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in United States adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 166 . Art. 110138.

Abstract

Alexithymia is a trait involving difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. Over the past two decades, it has usually been assessed using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Recently, the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) was developed to provide more detailed facet-level (and valence-specific) analysis. To date, no studies have compared these two measures, and few data are available on the PAQ. We examined the psychometric properties of the PAQ and TAS-20 in United States adults (N = 675). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that both measures had a theoretically congruent factor structure. While the PAQ assessed alexithymia for both negative and positive emotions, the TAS-20 assessed alexithymia only for negative emotions. All PAQ and TAS-20 subscales had good reliability, except for the TAS-20 externally orientated thinking subscale. Pearson correlations supported the convergent validity of both measures. We conclude that the PAQ and TAS-20 both have strong qualities and assess a similar alexithymia construct, however, the PAQ appears to provide a more comprehensive facet-level profile.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publisher:	Elsevier
Copyright:	© 2020 Elsevier Ltd.
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/56462

Item Control Page