Factorial structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: confirmatory factorial analyses in nonclinical and clinical samples

Alexithymia in the interpersonal domain: A general deficit of empathy?

“…Here, alexithymia total and subscales' scores were similar to those found in a healthy French population (Loas et al, 2001). In line with previous studies (e.g., Levant, Hall, Williams, & Hasan, 2009), female participants had lower alexithymia scores than male participants, even after controlling for anxiety levels.…”

The predictive value of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale among patients with asthma

“…It has been proposed that the IDE and COM factors of the TAS should be combined into one subscale [11]. Although we, like others [10,11,13], did find a strong correlation between these two subscales, the distinct relationship each factor demonstrated with features of asthma and the unique finding of an association between the COM subscale and physiological parameters provide support for keeping these two subscales separate. However, the EOT subscale did not contribute to the relationship between alexithymia and asthma, which is consistent with other studies questioning the importance of this subscale in studying emotional and somatic symptoms [11,13].…”

“…The IDE and the COM subscales have been consistently linked to greater report of negative affect and physical symptoms, and these effects appear to be stronger for the IDE subscale [9][10][11][12][13]. However, there has been considerable debate as to whether these subscales are measuring distinct traits of alexithymia or simply tapping a general construct of psychological distress [14].…”

“…In addition, trait anxiety was also measured to determine whether the TAS subscales would predict symptom report and pulmonary function independent of anxiety. Based on the consistent associations found between the IDE subscale and report of somatic as well as emotional symptoms [9][10][11][12][13], it was hypothesized that this subscale would be associated with self-report of asthma symptomatology. Based on prior research examining the relationship between the MMPI Alexithymia Scale and asthma [5], it was predicted that none of the TAS subscales would be related to pulmonary function.…”

Alexithymia impairs the cognitive control of negative material while facilitating the recall of neutral material in both younger and older adults

“…The TAS-20 was used in its validated French translation (Loas et al, 1996; Cronbach's α = .80). The reliability and validity of the TAS-20 has been demonstrated in numerous samples (Loas, Parker, Otmani, Verrier, & Fremaux, 1997;Loas et al, 2001;Taylor, Bagby, & Luminet, 2000). The average alexithymia score was 51.75 (SD = 15.08) and ranged from 24 to 84 (see Table 1).…”