Objectives The present paper tests the cross‐national stability of the HEXACO‐60 structure across 18 countries from four continents. Gender and age differences across countries will be examined. Finally, this is the first study to explicitly analyze the relationships between the HEXACO and social position. Method Ten thousand two hundred and ninety eight subjects (5,410 women and 4,888 men) from 18 countries and 13 languages were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analysis techniques were used to test configural, metric and scalar invariance models. Congruence coefficients with the original structure of the HEXACO‐60 were computed for every culture. Effect sizes of gender, age, and social position factors across countries were also computed. Results HEXACO‐60 demonstrates configural and metric invariance, but not scalar invariance. Congruence coefficients show a great equivalence in almost all countries and factors. Only Emotionality presents a large gender difference across countries. No relevant effect of age is observed. A profile of high scores on Honesty‐Humility, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience, and low scores on Emotionality increases the likelihood of achieving a higher social position, although the effect sizes are small. Conclusions HEXACO‐60 is a useful instrument to conduct personality trait research and practice around the world. Implications of gender, social position, and country differences are discussed.

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire shortened form (ZKA-PQ/SF) in 18 cultures and 13 languages of different African, American, Asian, and European cultures and languages. The results showed that the five-factor structure with 20 facets replicated well across cultures with a total congruence coefficient of .97. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) resulted in adequate fit indices for the five factors based on the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI; >.90), and RMSEA (.031-.081). A series of CFA to assess measurement invariance across cultures resulted in adequate CFIs and TLIs for configural and metric invariance. However, factors did not show scalar invariance. Alpha internal consistencies of five factors ranged between .77 (Sensation Seeking) and .86 (Neuroticism). The average alpha of the 20 facets was .64 with a range from .43 (SS4) to .75 (AG1). Nevertheless, alpha reliabilities were lower in some facets and cultures, especially for Senegal and Togo. The average percentage of the variance explained based on the adjusted R2 was 2.9%, 1.7%, and 5.1% for age, sex, and, cultures, respectively. Finally, multidimensional scaling suggested that geographically or culturally close cultures share mean profile similarities.

The development and assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polishlanguage 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 Englishlanguage 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.

Aim: Attachment theory is a broadly used paradigm for understanding human affective development. It is recognized that alexithymia is a key factor responsible for the nonadaptive strategies of regulating emotions in people addicted to alcohol. In addition, an important role is attributed to early childhood trauma and dissociation. The theoretical model was examined, in which connections between attachment styles, trauma, and alexithymia and dissociation were investigated in persons addicted to alcohol. Methods: The total number of study participants amounted to 268 persons, including 116 women (43% of all subjects) and 152 men (57% of all subjects) at the age of 18-73 (M = 39.19; SD = 13.45). In order to measure the analyzed variables, the following questionnaires were applied: Michigan alcoholism screening test (MAST), attachment styles questionnaire (ASQ), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), traumatic experiences checklist (TEC), and curious experiences survey (CES). Results: A comparative analysis between the group of alcohol addicts and nonaddicts showed statistically significant differences related to attachment style, intensity of trauma, alexithymia, and dissociation. With structural equation models (i.e., AMOS and GLS), the adjustment of theoretical model to data was examined, which allowed the description of dependency paths. As a result of the conducted analysis of paths, it was found out that the model was accurately fitted to data, but only when an impact path related to a direct connection between an attachment style and an addiction was deleted. This impact is indirect, and from one side, it results from affective and cognitive deficits, i.e., alexithymia, and on the other side, from the intensity of traumatic experiences. No direct impact of dissociation on the development of an inclination to addiction was found, if contextual variables, i.e., alexithymia and trauma, are taken into account. The strongest direct relation was proven in the case of the anxious-ambivalent attachment style and alexithymia (β = 0.389; p < 0.01) and avoidant attachment style and alexithymia (β = 0.497; p < 0.01), which turned out a strong predictor fostering the development of alexithymia and the occurrence of traumas related to emotional negligence and mental violence and finally addiction.

Objective: The attachment theory has been conceptualized as an affect regulation theory, proposing that attachment is associated with the expression and recognition of emotions as well as interpersonal functioning. The purpose of the study was to examine a model, in which a relation was analyzed between childhood trauma, temperament, alexithymia, and dissociation in a group of individuals addicted to alcohol.Method: The total number of 201 persons were examined, comprising 67 women (33.3% of participants) and 134 men (66.7% of participants). The participants aged from 18 to 68 (M = 32.81; SD = 12.12). In order to measure the analyzed variables, the following questionnaires were applied: MAST, SSSV, TAS20, TEC, and CES.Results: A comparative analysis between the group of alcohol addicts and non-addicts showed statistically significant differences related to: the intensity of trauma, temperament, alexithymia, and dissociation. The study of models related to the impact of traumatic experience intensity on the level of alcohol addiction with regard to a mediatory role of alexithymia, dissociation, and temperament showed the existence of several important indirect effects, and the model, which takes into account all three mediators, is statistically significant F(4,196) = 35.1964; p < 0.001.Conclusion: Childhood trauma, as well as alexithymia and dissociation block dealing with stress based on self-reflection and self-control, and contribute to affective disorders and their regulation with alcohol.Limitations: The selection of participants to homogeneous groups with regard to age and gender constituted the most important difficulty and limitation. A perfect age criterion for investigating the interaction between the temperament and the consequences of traumatic development would be early adulthood.

Siblings play an important role in psychological and relational development in the lifecycle, especially if the family includes brothers or sisters with intellectual disability. The main objective of this study was to examine whether the relationships experienced by siblings of people with intellectual disability (ID-sibs) and siblings of people with typical development (TD-sibs) influence their ways of coping with stress and anxiety level, with particular emphasis on gender differences. The participants were 187 adults, of whom 104 (55.6%) were females aged 18 to 76 years (M = 29.42; SD = 11.93). Of our sample, 51.9% (N = 97) had a sibling with an intellectual disability and 48.1% (N = 90) had a sibling with typical development. The participants completed a self-report questionnaire that assessed demographics, sibling-relationship quality, anxiety, and coping orientations to problems experienced. The results show that women report a higher quality of relationship with ID-sibs compared to men and to women who have TD-sibs. The results further indicate that women with ID-sibs had higher levels of anxiety and used Transcendent-Oriented coping strategies more frequently. Lastly, gender moderated the relation between relationship quality and coping strategies in diverse ways in the two groups considered. The implications of the overall results are that sibling-focused interventions should focus on improving negative sibling relationships in order to reduce the impact of difficulties on TD siblings of both genders and that the content and delivery framework of interventions should be shaped accordingly.

Background: Attachment theory is a widely used framework for understanding emotion regulation as well as alexithymia, and dissociation and this perspective has also been applied to understand alcohol use disorders. Apart from these theoretical suggestions, there has been scarce empirical research on this subject-matter. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate potential associations between attachment style in adulthood, alexithymia, and dissociation in alcohol use disorder inpatients.Methods: The Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), and the Curious Experiences Survey (CES) were administered to a sample of 97 alcohol use disorder inpatients recruited from drug and alcohol treatment centers in Warsaw, and 104 persons in control groups, Poland.Results: A comparative analysis between the group of alcohol addicts and non-addicts showed statistically significant differences related to: alexithymia, dissociation, and attachment styles. The analysis of models related to the impact of attachment styles on the level of alcohol addiction with regard to a mediatory role of alexithymia and dissociation showed that all models are well fitted to data and statistically significant: intimacy F(3.197) = 34.41; p < 0.001 and explains 34% (R2 = 0.3438); depend F(3.197) = 36.55; p < 0.001, and explains 36% (R2 = 0.3576); anxiety F(3.197) = 34.71; p < 0.001, and explains 35% (R2 = 0.3458) of the variability of alcohol addiction scores. Mediation analysis found that alexithymia and dissociation enhance the fear of intimacy and rejection in a romantic relationship.Conclusion: These findings support the broad attachment theory suggesting that attachment is associated with and predicts alexithymia and dissociation in the sample of substance use disorder inpatients. Alexithymia and dissociation, by inhibiting the processes of emotions’ identification and verbalization, cause that language does not serve for the purpose of changing self or others, as the communication is distorted. Absent are common meanings and accurate mutual understanding in a relationship.

This research explores the Dark Triad traits in 18 cultures from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. We examined the relationships among Dark Triad traits, as measured by the SD3, with gender, age, social status, and two personality models, HEXACO and Zuckerman’s alternative five factor model (AFFM). There were 10,298 participants (5,410 women and 4,888 men) with a mean age of 40.31 ( SD = 17.32) years old. Between 6% and 16% of the variance in the Dark Triad traits was accounted by culture. Men scored higher than women on all three traits in most cultures, but gender differences were generally larger in European countries. The relationship between the Dark Triad traits dimensions and age is negative, but the largest effect size is small (Psychopathy; η2 = .018). Psychopathy is associated with low Social Position, and Narcissism with high Social Position. In regard to Personality traits, Narcissism is positively related to Extraversion, and Psychopathy is negatively related to Conscientiousness for the HEXACO, and Narcissism is positively related to Activity and Sensation Seeking, and Machiavellianism and Psychopathy are positively related to Aggressiveness and Sensation Seeking for the AFFM.