Abstract
BackgroundA much higher prevalence of alexithymia has been reported in medical students compared with the general population, and alexithymia is a risk factor that increases vulnerability to mental disorders. Our aim was to evaluate the level of alexithymia in Chinese medical students and to explore its influencing factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 1,950 medical students at Shenyang Medical College was conducted in May 2014 to evaluate alexithymia in medical students using the Chinese version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach’s α coefficient and mean inter-item correlations. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate construct validity. The relationships between alexithymia and influencing factors were examined using Student’s t-test, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21.0.ResultsOf the 1,950 medical students, 1,886 (96.7%) completed questionnaires. Overall, Cronbach’s α coefficient of the TAS-20 questionnaire was 0.868. The results of CFA showed that the original three-factor structure produced an acceptable fit to the data. By univariate analysis, gender, grade (academic year of study), smoking behavior, alcohol use, physical activity, history of living with parents during childhood, and childhood trauma were influencing factors of TAS-20 scores (p < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender, physical activity, grade, living with parents, and childhood trauma also had statistically significant association with total TAS-20 score (p < 0.05).ConclusionsGender, physical activity, grade, history of living with parents during childhood, and childhood trauma were all factors determining the level of alexithymia. To prevent alexithymia, it will be advisable to promote adequate physical activity and pay greater attention to male medical students and those who are in the final year of training.
Highlights
A much higher prevalence of alexithymia has been reported in medical students compared with the general population, and alexithymia is a risk factor that increases vulnerability to mental disorders
The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the level of alexithymia and to explore its influencing factors among Chinese medical students, in order to provide references for prevention strategies on alexithymia
The prevalence of alexithymia was higher among male medical students (88/ 368, 23.9%) than among females (209/1,518, 13.8%)
Summary
A much higher prevalence of alexithymia has been reported in medical students compared with the general population, and alexithymia is a risk factor that increases vulnerability to mental disorders. The resulting gap between patient expectations and physician objectives has generated a deterioration of the doctor-patient relationship over the past decade [3, 4]. One barrier to a satisfying doctor-patient relationship is the inability of a physician to be aware of, and subsequently being able to modulate and manage, emotions in themselves and others, a personality construct known as alexithymia [10].
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