Author(s)

Sebastian Guevara Kamm^1*, Enrique Sepulveda², Burkhard Brosig¹

¹Center of General Pediatrics and Neonatology, Familial and Children’s Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, University of Giessen, Gießen, Germany.
²Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.

Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) adolescent research became increasingly popular. We found no data examining two different ethnical adolescent groups sharing comparable environment. Furthermore, there are no indications that TAS-20 has ever been used in Chile. We conducted a transcultural comparison investigating the influence of ethnicity, gender and age on a low socioeconomic teenage population. Additionally, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed. In this cohort study (n = 225), 95 indigenous students were compared to the Hispanic control group of 130 participants. We found proper replicability and internal reliability of TAS-20 and the three-factor solution for our sample. We measured high alexithymia rates and significant differences between the ethnicities and genders but there was no influence of age. Although factor 3 (EOT) was inconsistent to some degree, TAS-20 resulted to be an appropriate measure for Chilean adolescents. Indigenous ethnicity, gender, low socioeconomic status, and power distance in a rural environment contribute to high alexithymia.

Alexithymia, TAS-20, Chile, Adolescent, Cross-Cultural

Guevara Kamm, S. , Sepulveda, E. and Brosig, B. (2016) Adolescent Alexithymia Research: Indigenous Sample Compared to Hispanic Sample in Southern Chile. Psychology, 7, 992-1003. doi: 10.4236/psych.2016.77100.