Alexithymia Assessment and Relations with Dimensions of Personality

Abstract

Abstract. This study examines the relationship between alexithymia, impulsiveness, locus of control, irrational beliefs, and both the domain and the facet levels of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality in a sample of 136 undergraduate students by using the 26-Item and the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scales (TAS-26; TAS-20), the Impulsiveness Questionnaire (I7), the Internal, Powerful others, and Chance Scales (IPC), the Malouff and Schutte Belief Scale and the NEO Personality Inventory Revised. The aim of this study is to compare the TAS-26 and the TAS-20, and to explore relations between alexithymia and personality especially regarding aspects that have not been taken into account so far, like impulsiveness and irrational beliefs. As expected, alexithymia overlaps with various dimensions of the FFM, as well as other dimensions like external locus of control and irrational beliefs. Surprisingly, there is no association between alexithymia and impulsiveness. Our results suggest that alexithymia is a cognitive state of externally oriented thinking with an emotional instability associated to the inability to cope with stressful situations.