TITLE:
Evidence of Convergent Validity of the BVAQ-20 in Relation to the TAS-20 among Mexican Adults and Its Association with Social Desirability
AUTHORS:
José Moral-de la Rubia
KEYWORDS:
Alexithymia, Convergent Validity, Social Desirability, Self-Deceptive Enhancement, Impression Management, Psychometry
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.17 No.10,
October
13,
2026
ABSTRACT: In a validation study conducted in Mexico, an abbreviated version of the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire comprising its 20 direct-keyed items (BVAQ-20) was proposed to achieve good model fit and factors with adequate reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Although convergent validity between the BVAQ-40 and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) has been documented in several countries, it has not yet been examined in Mexico using the reduced BVAQ-20 version. Likewise, the extent to which this association is influenced by social desirability remains unknown. The objectives of this study were: (1) to examine the relationship between the BVAQ-20 and the TAS-20 while accounting for social desirability, and (2) to validate the factorial models of the TAS-20 and the control variable. An incidental sample of 570 married Mexican adults (285 women and 285 men) was recruited. Participants completed the BVAQ-40, TAS-20, and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR-20). Both the BVAQ-20 and the TAS-20 were correlated with social desirability, although the associations were small. The correlation between the BVAQ-20 and the TAS-20 was high and was primarily accounted for by the Cognitive dimension and its three factors, whereas the Affective dimension and its two factors were largely independent. After accounting for social desirability, the magnitudes of the correlations generally decreased but remained significant. Comparisons of the corresponding partial correlations showed only small differences with trivial effect sizes, providing no consistent evidence that either component of social desirability exerted a meaningfully stronger influence on the associations. These findings provide evidence of the convergent validity of the BVAQ-20 in relation to the TAS-20 and suggest that this association is relatively robust to social desirability.