No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994) is the most widely used self-report measure of the alexithymia construct. The TAS-20 comprises 3 factors that assess difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking. Although the instrument is being increasingly used with adolescent respondents, the psychometric properties of the TAS-20 have not been systematically evaluated in preadult populations. In the present study, we examined measurement invariance of the factor structure, internal reliability, and mean levels of responses on the TAS-20 in groups of younger adolescents (aged 13-14 years), middle adolescents (aged 15-16 years), and older adolescents (aged 17-18 years), as well as in a comparison group of young adults (aged 19-21 years). Formal readability analysis of the TAS-20 assessment was also conducted. Results revealed systematic age differences in the factor structure and psychometric properties of the TAS-20, with the quality of measurement progressively deteriorating with younger age. Much of this effect could be attributed to the reading difficulty of the scale. The use of the TAS-20 with teenage respondents is not recommended without appropriate adaptation and further psychometric validation. Several adaptation strategies are discussed.

Although several brief instruments are available for the emotional intelligence (EI) construct, their conceptual coverage tends to be quite limited. One notable exception is the short form of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i:S), which measures multiple EI dimensions in addition to a global EI index. Despite the unique advantage offered by the inventory, psychometric properties of the EQ-i:S scores have not yet been systematically evaluated. Such an evaluation was the main goal of the present investigation. Using data from 2,508 undergraduates, the authors conducted 2 studies involving factor structure, internal reliability, 6-month temporal stability, and construct validity of the EQ-i:S responses, both for the total EQ scale and for each constituent dimension. The results supported the multidimensional measurement structure of the EQ-i:S, with each dimension producing internally consistent, temporally stable, and theoretically meaningful responses. Scores on the EQ-i:S were associated more strongly with performance on an ability test of EI and with a conceptually similar construct of alexithymia than with the broader dimensions of basic personality and explained nontrivial amounts of incremental variance in the criterion symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Moreover, scores on each EQ-i:S dimension exhibited unique patterns of associations with the validation variables. The discussion highlights the advantages of the multidimensional approach in the assessment and study of EI.