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

Schroeders, Ulrich; Kubera, Fiona Rachel; Gnambs, Timo

doi:10.31234/osf.io/s7eny

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 83 publications

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“…The input for these analyses was the empirical Bayes estimates of the 14 latent factors in Model 1 (see above). This procedure has gained recent popularity in personality (e.g., Schroeders et al, 2021), intelligence (e.g., Steger et al, 2019), and psychopathological research (e.g., Wright et al, 2012) because it allows exploring the dimensionality of measurement instruments at different levels of abstraction.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dimensionality of the Brief COPE Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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The Brief COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) is a frequently used questionnaire assessing 14 theoretically derived coping mechanisms, but psychometric research has suggested inconsistent results concerning its factor structure. The aim of this study was to investigate primary and secondary order factor structures of the Brief COPE during the COVID-19 pandemic by testing 11 different models by confirmatory factor analyses and to assess differences between sex, age groups, and relationship status. Altogether, 529 respondents from Austria and Germany participated in a web-based survey. Results supported the originally hypothesized 14-factor structure but did not support previously described higher-order structures. However, bass-ackwards analyses suggested systematic overlap between different factors, which might have contributed to different factor solutions in previous research. Measurement invariance across sex, age groups, and relationship status could be confirmed. Findings suggest that cultural and situational aspects as well as the functional level should be considered in research on theoretical framing of coping behavior.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dimensionality of the Brief COPE Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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Assessing Alexithymia across Asian and Western Cultures: Psychometric Properties of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 in Singaporean and Australian Samples

Chan

Becerra

Weinborn

et al. 2022

Journal of Personality Assessment

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

Cited by 3 publications

References 83 publications

The Dimensionality of the Brief COPE Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Dimensionality of the Brief COPE Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Assessing Alexithymia across Asian and Western Cultures: Psychometric Properties of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 in Singaporean and Australian Samples

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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