Alexithymic Traits and Somatic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents: a Screening Approach to Explore the Mediation Role of Depression

Cerutti, Rita; Spensieri, Valentina; Presaghi, Fabio; Renzi, Alessia; Palumbo, Nicola; Amendola, Simone; Solano, Luigi; Trani, Michela Di

doi:10.1007/s11126-020-09715-8

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The BbTAS-12 was developed to present to the academic community a brief instrument measuring the same three theoretically dimensions, originally proposed by Bagby et al 32 , but with adequate metric properties that can be easily included in research with multiple instruments. To assess the response behaviors of these young people with respect to BbTAS-12, a Likert scale is used, graduated in 5 points, ranging from "strongly disagree" (1) to "strongly agree" (5). A high score indicates that the adolescent has alexithymic characteristics, revealing by this bias, a facet of his personality.…”

Section: Ethical and Methodological Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering the theoretical and empirical aspects presented above, the importance of assessing the occurrence of alexithymia in adolescents [4][5][6] , the importance of having measures that are appropriate for their cognitive and affective developmental stage 1 , and based on the difficulty in obtaining more satisfactory psychometric indexes 6,29 , three research questions are hereby proposed: (i) How many and which are the intrinsic factors in the measure of Alexithymia in adolescents (13 to 19 years old), when evaluated by the Brazilian brief Toronto Alexithymia Scale (BbTAS-12)? (ii) Does the three-dimensional model, inherent to BbTAS-12, fit the available data?…”

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, studies have shown that the measurement of this construct with adolescents, through the TAS-20, do not present not very favorable results in the internal structure and precision of the scale 2,3 . Finally, since several studies suggest that Alexithymia can have serious health consequences for adolescents [4][5][6] , the assessment of this construct in a valid and reliable way seems to be of great importance for this age group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First validity evidences of the Brazilian brief Toronto Alexitimia Scale (BbTAS-12) using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling with a sample of adolescents

Wiethaeuper¹,

Balbinotti

Saldanha

et al. 2020

SDH

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Introduction: Alexithymia is a construct characterized by a subclinical inability to identify and describe emotions and an externally-oriented thinking. Objective: To test the three-dimensional theoretical model proposed by Parker et al. (1994) (DDF, DIF, EOT), when evaluated by a brief version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (BbTAS-12). Method: BbTAS-12 was used in a sample of 801 adolescents (from 13 to 19 years of age), of both genders (52.1% male), in order to test its first evidences of validity via Exploratory Structural Equation (ESEM) Modeling and the internal consistency index. Results: The results of the general model (GFI = .99; AGFI = .97; χ2/gl = 1,14; RMSEA = .035; PCLOSE > .5; CFI = .98; TLI = .97), are excellent and explain 51% of the construct variance, confirming also the three dimension-structure. Both the internal consistency of the total (αt = .72; Omegat = .69) and the theoretically proposed dimensions (αDDF = .67; OmegaDDF = .68; αDIF = .73; OmegaDIF = .73; αEOT = 0,56; OmegaEOT = .57) showed results varying from acceptable to adequate. The internal consistency of the full scale (BbTAS-12) is adequate, with the exception of the EOT dimension. The results are discussed considering the studies conducted with this population in several countries. Conclusion: BbTAS-12 is an especially promising scale for the measure Alexithymia in Brazilian adolescents. However, itis possible to improve the content of some items considering the reading skills and the cultural context of adolescents.

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Section: Ethical and Methodological Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First validity evidences of the Brazilian brief Toronto Alexitimia Scale (BbTAS-12) using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling with a sample of adolescents

Wiethaeuper¹,

Balbinotti

Saldanha

et al. 2020

SDH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Teenagers undergo rapid physical and psychological changes. Early research has indicated that children can exhibit precursors to somatoform disorders (e.g., hypochondriasis) that arise in adults when medically unexplained physical symptoms are prevalent [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Moreover, evidence from investigators of fear in children and adolescents has shown that teenagers have sustained health-associated anxiety and fear [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Dysfunction and Cyberchondria among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

Liu

Yang

Cheng

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Cyberchondria has become a severe health problem and a significant public concern. In addition to the impacts that cyberchondria involves, individual psychological and behavioral factors have been identified. However, the role of family function and the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying these relations are not understood well, especially among adolescents. Based on family functioning and cognitive-behavioral theory, this study sought to examine whether family dysfunction was associated with cyberchondria, and a moderated mediation model was prepared as a means of exploring whether health anxiety was a mediator of relationships between family dysfunction and cyberchondria, as well as whether optimism moderated these mediating processes. A total of 2074 Chinese adolescents (mean = 15.08 years, SD = 1.79) reported their demographic information, family dysfunction, health anxiety, optimism, and cyberchondria. The findings showed that family dysfunction was positively related to cyberchondria. Moreover, health anxiety partially mediated the relationship between family dysfunction and cyberchondria. Finally, optimism moderated the interplay among health anxiety and cyberchondria. Consistent with the expectancy-value models, this positive relationship was weaker for adolescents with a higher level of optimism. These results suggest that it is vital to simultaneously consider individual and family factors as a means of understanding adolescent cyberchondria when performing cyberchondria intervention programs.

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“…, 2011 ), substance abuse disorders ( Cruise and Becerra, 2018 ), posttraumatic stress disorder ( Frewen et al. , 2006 ), somatic symptom disorders ( Cerutti et al. , 2020 ), eating disorders ( Marsero et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptive and affective impairments in emotive eye-region processing in alexithymia

Wang

Goerlich

et al. 2022

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Alexithymia is characterized by impairments in emotion processing, frequently linked to facial expressions of emotion. The eye-region conveys information necessary for emotion processing. It has been demonstrated that alexithymia is associated with reduced attention to the eyes, but little is known regarding the cognitive and electrophysiological mechanisms underlying emotive eye-region processing in alexithymia. Here, we recorded behavioral and electrophysiological responses of individuals with alexithymia (ALEX; n=25) and individuals without alexithymia (NonALEX; n=23) while they viewed intact and eyeless faces with angry and sad expressions during a dual-target rapid serial visual presentation task. Results showed different eye-region focuses and differentiating N1 responses between intact and eyeless faces to anger and sadness in NonALEX, but not in ALEX, suggesting deficient perceptual processing of the eye-region in alexithymia. Reduced eye-region focus and smaller differences in frontal alpha asymmetry in response to sadness between intact and eyeless faces were observed in ALEX than NonALEX, indicative of impaired affective processing of the eye-region in alexithymia. These findings highlight perceptual and affective abnormalities of emotive eye-region processing in alexithymia. Our results contribute to understanding the neuropsychopathology of alexithymia and alexithymia-related disorders.

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Alexithymic Traits and Somatic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents: a Screening Approach to Explore the Mediation Role of Depression

Cited by 15 publications

References 54 publications

First validity evidences of the Brazilian brief Toronto Alexitimia Scale (BbTAS-12) using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling with a sample of adolescents

First validity evidences of the Brazilian brief Toronto Alexitimia Scale (BbTAS-12) using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling with a sample of adolescents

Family Dysfunction and Cyberchondria among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

Perceptive and affective impairments in emotive eye-region processing in alexithymia

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