Taxometric analysis of alexithymia in a general population sample from Finland

Results from a recent taxometric investigation of the alexithymia construct, measured by the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), with English-speaking samples in Canada provided evidence that alexithymia is best conceptualized as a dimensional rather than a categorical construct. The aim of the current investigation was to attempt to generalize the outcome of this earlier investigation by examining the latent structure of the alexithymia construct in a sample whose primary language was not English. A second aim was to examine the latent structure in men and women separately as some investigators propose that typological differences in the nature of alexithymia may differ by gender. The sample comprised 5194 (2377 men, 2817 women) residents of Finland who as part of a population-based health survey, supported by the Finnish government, had completed a Finnish-language translation of the TAS-20. Three non-redundant taxometric analyses were performed in the total sample and for men and women separately, using item sets from the TAS-20 as indicators. The outcomes of the taxometric analyses for all three samples were similar to those in the Canadian study. These findings provide further evidence that alexithymia is a dimensional construct.