The Twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale--II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity

J Psychosom Res. 1994 Jan;38(1):33-40. doi: 10.1016/0022-3999(94)90006-x.

Abstract

A previous paper described the development of the twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and reported preliminary evidence of reliability and factorial validity of the scale. This paper describes a study that further evaluated the construct validity of the TAS-20 by examining its relationship with measures of personality traits theoretically related or unrelated to the alexithymia construct, as well as its relationship with an observer-rated measure of alexithymia. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity of the TAS-20 was demonstrated in samples of university students by a pattern of correlations with the scales of the NEO Personality Inventory and separate measures of psychological mindedness and need-for-cognition that was consistent with theoretical predictions. The concurrent validity of the scale was demonstrated by positive correlations with observer-ratings of alexithymia in a sample of behavioural medicine out-patients.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Affective Symptoms / diagnosis*
  • Affective Symptoms / psychology
  • Aged
  • Ambulatory Care
  • Awareness
  • Behavior Therapy
  • Discriminant Analysis
  • Fantasy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / diagnosis
  • Mental Disorders / psychology
  • Mental Disorders / therapy
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality Inventory / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results