TITLE:
Assessment of Alexithymia: Psychometric Properties of the Psychological Treatment Inventory-Alexithymia Scale (PTI-AS)
AUTHORS:
Alessio Gori, Marco Giannini, Giulia Palmieri, Roberta Salvini, David Schuldberg
KEYWORDS:
Alexithymia; Personality Tests; Psychological Assessment; Psychometrics; AffectiveSymptoms
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.3 No.3,
March
19,
2012
ABSTRACT: Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of a new measure of alexithymia, the Psychological Treatment Inventory-Alexithymia Scale (PTI-AS). Method: A group of 778 participants completed the PTI-AS. In order to evaluate aspects of concurrent validity, a part of the sample (n = 116) completed the PTI-AS, the Twenty-Items Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ). In order to evaluate aspects of discriminant validity a group of patients with a diagnosis of Eating Disorders completed the PTI-AS, the TAS-20 and the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-3). Results: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) showed a solid structure with one factor. Results were confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which yielded good fit indices (CFI = .98; TLI = .95; RMSEA = .08; SRMR = .04). The PTI Alexithymia Scale showed a good degree of internal consistency (α = .88). Correlations between the PTI Alexithymia Scale, the TAS-20 (r = .74, p