Relations between anxiety sensitivity and dimensions of alexithymia in a young adult sample

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the relations between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and dimensions of alexithymia in a nonclinical sample. We also sought to determine whether these relations persist after controlling for trait anxiety levels and panic attack history, and after controlling for item redundancy between the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). A sample of 238 undergraduate students completed the ASI, the TAS-20, and measures of trait anxiety and panic. A group of high AS participants (n=36) was found to have a significantly higher TAS-20 total score than a group of low AS participants (n=41), both before and after conceptually redundant TAS-20 items were removed. ASI scores were found to be significantly positively correlated with scores on the two TAS-20 subscales suspected of sharing a functional relation with AS (i.e., difficulty identifying emotions; difficulty describing emotions), whereas ASI scores were not significantly correlated with scores on the TAS-20 subscale believed to be functionally unrelated to AS (i.e., external-oriented thinking). This pattern of correlations between ASI scores and alexithymia dimensions persisted following the removal of conceptually redundant TAS-20 items, suggesting that the relation between AS and alexithymia is not merely an artifact of item redundancy. ASI scores remained significantly correlated with scores on the TAS-20's difficulty identifying emotions subscale, and marginally correlated with scores on the TAS-20's difficulty describing emotions subscale, after accounting for the influences of trait anxiety and panic history. The results also revealed that individuals who both experience frequent anxiety and who greatly fear their anxiety symptoms report the greatest difficulties identifying and describing emotional states. Implications for understanding the alexithymia construct, as well as potential clinical implications of the findings, are discussed.