Common foundation of alexithymia and expressive suppression: Results of an empirical study

Abstract

Background: International studies could already prove a correlation between alexithymia and expressive suppression. This relationship has only been marginally considered in the German literature so far. The prioritized aim of the present study was to investigate a correlative and factorial relationship between alexithymia and expressive suppression. Material and methods: A total of 317 persons participated in an online survey. Data on alexithymia and expressive suppression were collected using the German versions of the Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-26) and the emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ). Results: The results showed highly significant correlations between the TAS-26 subscale “difficulty in identifying feelings” and the ERQ scale “suppression” (r = 0.5; p < 0.001) and between the TAS-26 subscale “difficulty in describing feelings” and the ERQ scale “suppression” (r = 0.64; p < 0.001). The results of an exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution with common factor for the TAS-26 subscales “difficulty in identifying feelings” and “difficulty in describing feelings” and the ERQ scale “suppression” with a common variance of 38.2% (χ2 = 363.843, p < 0.001, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, KMO, value = 0.699). Conclusion: The results indicate that the TAS-26 scales in the components “difficulty in identifying feelings” and “difficulty in describing feelings” and the ERQ scale “suppression” in the component of “expressive suppression” have a common construct, which is referred to with the term speechlessness.