Development and psychometric evaluation of an informant form of the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale

Bagby, R. Michael; Parker, James D. A.; Onno, Karin A.; Mortezaei, Ardeshir; Taylor, Graeme J.

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110329

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The originally intended three-dimensional structure by Bagby et al (1994 ; Model 3a) has been replicated in many studies ( Besharat, 2007b ; Joukamaa et al, 2001 ; Meganck et al, 2008 ; Parker et al, 2003 ; Parker et al, 2005 ), although the criteria used to evaluate model fit were sometimes inadequate (e.g., Bressi et al., 1996 ; Praceres et al, 2012 ; Seo et al, 2009 ). This also applies to a recently introduced informant version ( Bagby et al, 2021 ) and many translated versions of the original TAS-20: In 2003, Taylor et al (2003) conducted a narrative review of the 18 translated versions existing at that time (e.g., a German, Hindi, and Greek version) and concluded that there was “strong support for the generalizability of the three-factor structure of the scale” (p. 281). Since then, 10 more languages have been added ( Bagby et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: The Toronto Alexithymia Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Structure of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20): A Meta-Analytic Confirmatory Factor Analysis

2021

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Alexithymia is defined as the inability of persons to describe their emotional states, to identify the feelings of others, and a utilitarian type of thinking. The most popular instrument to assess alexithymia is the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Despite its widespread use, an ongoing controversy pertains to its internal structure. The TAS-20 was originally constructed to capture three different factors, but several studies suggested different factor solutions, including bifactor models and models with a method factor for the reversely keyed items. The present study examined the dimensionality of the TAS-20 using summary data of 88 samples from 62 studies (total N = 69,722) with meta-analytic structural equation modeling. We found support for the originally proposed three-dimensional solution, whereas more complex models produced inconsistent factor loadings. Because a major source of misfit stems from translated versions, the results are discussed with respect to generalizations across languages and cultural contexts.

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Section: The Toronto Alexithymia Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Structure of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20): A Meta-Analytic Confirmatory Factor Analysis

2021

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“…Several studies reported associations of alexithymia with pain and pain intensity (Aaron et al, 2019 ; Zeng et al, 2016 ), social support (Lumley et al, 1996 ; Saikkonen et al, 2018 ; Zeng et al, 2016 ), insecure attachment styles (Romeo et al, 2020 ), psychosocial stress (Terock et al, 2019 ), dissociation and PTSD (Grabe et al, 2000 ; Terock et al, 2016 ) as well as for hypertension and carotid atherosclerosis (Grabe et al, 2010 ). Similar to resilience, alexithymia is often considered as personality trait (Bagby et al, 2021 ; Gao et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Resilience, Alexithymia and Subjectively Perceived Helplessness of Myocardial Infarction on the Risk of Posttraumatic Stress

Kirchner

Brauer

Auwera

et al. 2022

J Clin Psychol Med Settings

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The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of resilience, alexithymia and the subjectively perceived severity (fear of death, pain intensity, helplessness) of myocardial infarction (MI) on posttraumatic symptom severity (PTSS) after MI. Patients were assessed with the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), Resilience Scale (RS-11) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Subjectively perceived severity of MI was measured with three items on a 10-point Likert scale. To test our hypothesis, we applied Pearson correlations as well as multiple hierarchical linear regression analyses. A higher resilience score was significantly associated with lower (r = − .39, p < .001) PTSS. Higher scores of alexithymia (r = .38, p < .01) and subjectively perceived helplessness (r = .42, p < .001) were associated with higher PTSS. Multiple hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that resilience, the TAS-20 subscale difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) and especially subjectively perceived helplessness were independent significant predictors for the PTSS, adjusted R2 = .29, F(5, 102) = 9.57, p < .001. Our results suggest that resilience reduces the PTSS whereas alexithymia and subjectively perceived helplessness increase the risk. Especially the subjectively perceived helplessness explains a high degree of variance of PTSS and should be assessed to hindering further mental health burden.

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“…Notably, a recent study has found that item 3 of the TAS-20 is the single most important item when discriminating individuals with a functional somatic condition (fibromyalgia) from healthy controls [ 166 ], providing additional evidence to support our suspicion that this particular item drives much of the correlation between the TAS-20 and somatic symptomatology. Additional work in this area should attempt to measure alexithymia in a multimodal manner (e.g., simultaneously administering the GAFS-8, a second self-report questionnaire such as the BVAQ [ 64 ] or PAQ [ 75 ], an observer-report measure such as the Observer Alexithymia Scale [ 167 ] or TAS-20 informant report [ 168 ], and an interview measure such as the TSIA), as such multi-method studies are able to separate out the degree of variance in these measures due to alexithymia versus construct-irrelevant method factors (such as self-report questionnaire response styles). Multi-method alexithymia work is almost entirely absent from the autism literature [ 169 ], although such work on a larger scale (i.e., with samples large enough to fit latent variable models) is necessary to determine which relationships between alexithymia and important covariates of interest (e.g., somatization, neuroticism, autism symptoms, emotion recognition, and psychopathology) are due to the latent alexithymia construct or measurement artifacts specific to certain alexithymia assessments or response modalities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the measurement of alexithymia in autistic adults: a psychometric investigation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and generation of a general alexithymia factor score using item response theory

Williams

Gotham

2021

Molecular Autism

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Background Alexithymia, a personality trait characterized by difficulties interpreting emotional states, is commonly elevated in autistic adults, and a growing body of literature suggests that this trait underlies several cognitive and emotional differences previously attributed to autism. Although questionnaires such as the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) are frequently used to measure alexithymia in the autistic population, few studies have investigated the psychometric properties of these questionnaires in autistic adults, including whether differential item functioning (I-DIF) exists between autistic and general population adults. Methods This study is a revised version of a previous article that was retracted due to copyright concerns (Williams and Gotham in Mol Autism 12:1–40). We conducted an in-depth psychometric analysis of the TAS-20 in a large sample of 743 cognitively able autistic adults recruited from the Simons Foundation SPARK participant pool and 721 general population controls enrolled in a large international psychological study. The factor structure of the TAS-20 was examined using confirmatory factor analysis, and item response theory was used to generate a subset of the items that were strong indicators of a “general alexithymia” factor. Correlations between alexithymia and other clinical outcomes were used to assess the nomological validity of the new alexithymia score in the SPARK sample. Results The TAS-20 did not exhibit adequate model fit in either the autistic or general population samples. Empirically driven item reduction was undertaken, resulting in an 8-item general alexithymia factor score (GAFS-8, with “TAS” no longer referenced due to copyright) with sound psychometric properties and practically ignorable I-DIF between diagnostic groups. Correlational analyses indicated that GAFS-8 scores, as derived from the TAS-20, meaningfully predict autistic trait levels, repetitive behaviors, and depression symptoms, even after controlling for trait neuroticism. The GAFS-8 also presented no meaningful decrement in nomological validity over the full TAS-20 in autistic participants. Limitations Limitations of the current study include a sample of autistic adults that was majority female, later diagnosed, and well educated; clinical and control groups drawn from different studies with variable measures; only 16 of the TAS-20 items being administered to the non-autistic sample; and an inability to test several other important psychometric characteristics of the GAFS-8, including sensitivity to change and I-DIF across multiple administrations. Conclusions These results indicate the potential of the GAFS-8 to robustly measure alexithymia in both autistic and non-autistic adults. A free online score calculator has been created to facilitate the use of norm-referenced GAFS-8 latent trait scores in research applications (available at https://asdmeasures.shinyapps.io/alexithymia).

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Development and psychometric evaluation of an informant form of the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

The Structure of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20): A Meta-Analytic Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The Structure of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20): A Meta-Analytic Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The Impact of Resilience, Alexithymia and Subjectively Perceived Helplessness of Myocardial Infarction on the Risk of Posttraumatic Stress

Improving the measurement of alexithymia in autistic adults: a psychometric investigation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and generation of a general alexithymia factor score using item response theory

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