Ethnolinguistic correlates of alexithymia: Toward a cultural perspective

Abstract

Gender and ethnolinguistic correlates of alexithymia were explored by having a large, ethnically heterogeneous sample of university students in Toronto, Canada, complete the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Men scored higher in the externally oriented thinking factor than women. Non-native English speakers scored higher on the overall TAS-20, as well as on the difficulty identifying feelings factor, than native English speakers. Further analyses showed that native Chinese language speakers scored consistently higher than native English and native European language speakers on the overall TAS-20 and its three underlying factors. These ethnolinguistic differences may reflect sociocultural influences making ethnic Chinese individuals likely to be less psychologically minded and more somatically oriented vis-à-vis their emotions than those from Western, ethnocultural traditions. Whether alexithymia should be construed as an “etic” construct (i.e., widely applicable across many different cultures) or an “emic” one (i.e., applicable to only one or two cultures) is discussed.