Adolescent Alexithymia Research: Indigenous Sample Compared to Hispanic Sample in Southern Chile

Abstract

Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) adolescent research became increasingly popular. We found no data examining two different ethnical adolescent groups sharing comparable environment. Furthermore, there are no indications that TAS-20 has ever been used in Chile. We conducted a transcultural comparison investigating the influence of ethnicity, gender and age on a low socioeconomic teenage population. Additionally, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed. In this cohort study (n = 225), 95 indigenous students were compared to the Hispanic control group of 130 participants. We found proper replicability and internal reliability of TAS-20 and the three-factor solution for our sample. We measured high alexithymia rates and significant differences between the ethnicities and genders but there was no influence of age. Although factor 3 (EOT) was inconsistent to some degree, TAS-20 resulted to be an appropriate measure for Chilean adolescents. Indigenous ethnicity, gender, low socioeconomic status, and power distance in a rural environment contribute to high alexithymia.