Associations between alexithymia, peer attachment, and mind-mindedness (the tendency to describe people with reference to their emotions and cognitions) were explored in a questionnaire-based study of British undergraduates (N = 270). Positive associations were seen between attachment anxiety and (a) overall alexithymia scores, (b) Difficulty Identifying Feelings, and (c) Difficulty Describing Feelings. Attachment avoidance was positively associated with (a) overall alexithymia scores, (b) Difficulty Describing Feelings, and (c) Externally Oriented Thinking, and was negatively associated with mind-mindedness. Individuals’ mind-mindedness met the criteria for mediating the relation between attachment avoidance and Externally Oriented Thinking. Findings are discussed with reference to the importance of distinguishing ability versus propensity to employ mentalizing skills in theoretical understandings of alexithymia.
Alexithymic individuals show normal physiological responses to emotion, suggesting that alexithymia is a deficit specifically in the cognitive processing of emotions (Lane et al., 2000 and Luminet et al., 2006). The construct of alexithymia has been investigated using the twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale TAS-20; (Bagby et al., 1994 and Bagby et al., 1994), and considerable work has gone into testing its reliability and validity (e.g., Parker et al., 2003 and Taylor et al., 2003).
While the TAS-20 was designed to measure alexithymia as a single, multi-faceted construct, its items assess three separate sub-components: Difficulty Identifying Feelings, Difficulty Describing Feelings, and Externally Oriented Thinking (Taylor & Bagby, 2000). An individual scoring high on Difficulty Identifying Feelings is likely to confuse emotions with physical bodily sensations when trying to communicate their feelings to others (Montebarocci, Codispoti, Baldaro, & Rossi, 2004). Taylor and Bagby (2000) noted that this confusion persists even when the individual displays potent emotional behaviors. High scores on Externally Oriented Thinking indicate a tendency to focus on external rather than internal experiences in every day life, both in personal thoughts and behaviors and in interactions with others (Parker, Bagby, Taylor, Endler, & Schmitz, 1993).
Despite recent empirical advances in assessing alexithymia, our understanding of this construct and its origins continues to be explored (Taylor & Bagby, 2004). Broad-based social factors have been found to relate to alexithymia. For example, in an undergraduate population, Mason, Tyson, Jones, and Potts (2005) reported relations between alexithymia, gender, and degree discipline. There was a higher prevalence of alexithymia in women than in men, and female science students scored more highly than female arts students.
Individual differences in alexithymia have also begun to be explained with reference to more specific environmental, interpersonal, and developmental factors. In a large twin study, Jorgensen, Zachariae, Skytthe, and Kyvik (2007) reported that shared and non-shared environment made contributions to all three alexithymia factors, and scores for alexithymia in college students and their mothers have been found to be positively associated (Fukunishi & Paris, 2001). Alexithymic adults also report experiencing less emotional expression in their early family life and feeling less emotionally secure in childhood (Berenbaum & James, 1994). These findings suggest that early attachment relationships with caregivers may be important determinants of alexithymic traits.
