ABSTRACT
The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994) is the most widely used self-report measure of the alexithymia construct. The TAS-20 comprises 3 factors that assess difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking. Although the instrument is being increasingly used with adolescent respondents, the psychometric properties of the TAS-20 have not been systematically evaluated in preadult populations. In the present study, we examined measurement invariance of the factor structure, internal reliability, and mean levels of responses on the TAS-20 in groups of younger adolescents (aged 13-14 years), middle adolescents (aged 15-16 years), and older adolescents (aged 17-18 years), as well as in a comparison group of young adults (aged 19-21 years). Formal readability analysis of the TAS-20 assessment was also conducted. Results revealed systematic age differences in the factor structure and psychometric properties of the TAS-20, with the quality of measurement progressively deteriorating with younger age. Much of this effect could be attributed to the reading difficulty of the scale. The use of the TAS-20 with teenage respondents is not recommended without appropriate adaptation and further psychometric validation. Several adaptation strategies are discussed.
Subject(s)
Affective Symptoms/diagnosis , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Psychology, Adolescent , Adolescent , Affective Symptoms/psychology , Age Factors , Canada , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Male , Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data , Reference Values , Reproducibility of Results , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The generalizability of the alexithymia construct to North American aboriginal culture was examined by assessing the replicability of the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in two different adult samples. The study also assessed the reliability of the scale and the influence of gender, age, and education on alexithymia levels. METHOD: The first sample was a community-based group of 123 aboriginal men and women; the second sample was 102 male aboriginal offenders. Both samples completed the TAS-20. RESULTS: The replicability of the three-factor structure for the TAS-20 was supported in both groups using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The TAS-20 and its three factors demonstrated adequate internal reliability, and the variables of gender, age, and education accounted for small or nonsignificant amounts of variability in total TAS-20 and factor scale scores. CONCLUSION: The results provide additional support for the factorial validity of the TAS-20 in diverse cultural groups.
