A pilot study on alexithymia in adopted youths: prevalence and relationships with emotional-behavioral problems

IF 1.8 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology Pub Date : 2020-12-19 DOI:10.6092/2282-1619/MJCP-2583
S. Muzi, C. S. Pace
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Adopted adolescents show high rates of emotional-behavioral problems and they could also be more vulnerable to alexithymia, a risk factor for psychopathology in adolescents, that is more frequent in case of early relational trauma(s), often experienced by adoptees in pre-adoption life. However, no studies investigate alexithymia in adopted adolescents, therefore this pilot study aimed to: (a) assess the prevalence of alexithymia in adoptees in comparison with a national representative sample; (b) examine the relationships between alexithymia and emotional-behavioral problems in adoptees. Participants were 33 adoptees aged 10-19 years (54.5% boys), enrolled through social services. Measures were the self-report questionnaire Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20-item to measure participants’ alexithymia, and the Youth Self Report 11-18 years to assess emotional-behavioral problems. Main results highlighted: 1) 71% of adoptees with moderate-to-high levels of alexithymia, with adoptees as significantly more border-alexithymic (55%) than in normative peers; 2)  Alexithymia and its factors Difficulty to identifying Feelings and Externally Oriented Thinking were related to more total, internalizing, externalizing and other problems (social, attentional, thought, binge-drinking, substance abuse, suicidality, etc...); 3) The difficulty identifying feelings was the unique predictor for 38% of total problems, 40% of internalizing ones, 22% of externalizing ones and 30% of other problems. In conclusion , the results suggest the clinical and scientific relevance of continuing the study of alexithymia in adopted adolescents, and future directions of research are suggested.
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领养青少年述情障碍的初步研究:患病率及其与情绪行为问题的关系
被收养的青少年表现出高比率的情绪行为问题,他们也可能更容易出现述情障碍,这是青少年精神病理学的一个风险因素,在早期关系创伤的情况下更为常见,被收养者在收养前的生活中经常经历这种创伤。然而,没有研究调查被收养青少年的述情障碍,因此这项试点研究旨在:(a)与全国代表性样本相比,评估被收养者的述情症患病率;(b) 研究被收养者的述情障碍与情绪行为问题之间的关系。参与者是33名10-19岁的被收养者(54.5%为男孩),通过社会服务登记。测量方法为多伦多述情障碍量表20项的自我报告问卷,用于测量参与者的述情障碍,以及11-18岁的青少年自我报告,用于评估情绪行为问题。主要结果强调:1)71%的被收养者有中度至高度述情障碍,被收养者的边界述情障碍(55%)明显多于正常同龄人;2) 述情障碍及其因素情感识别困难和外向思维与更全面、内化、外化等问题(社会、注意力、思维、酗酒、药物滥用、自杀等)有关;3) 识别感觉的困难是38%的总问题、40%的内化问题、22%的外化问题和30%的其他问题的唯一预测因素。总之,研究结果表明,继续研究被收养青少年述情障碍具有临床和科学意义,并提出了未来的研究方向。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
4.10
自引率
53.80%
发文量
0
审稿时长
4 weeks
期刊介绍: The MJCP is an Open Access Peer-Reviewed International Journal in Clinical Psychology. MJCP accepts research related to innovative and important areas of clinical research: 1. Clinical studies related to Clinical Psychology, 2. Psychopathology and Psychotherapy; 3. Basic studies pertaining to clinical psychology field as experimental psychology, psychoneuroendocrinology and psychoanalysis; 4. Growing application of clinical techniques in clinical psychology, psychology of health, clinical approaches in projective methods; 5. Forensic psychology in clinical research; 6. Psychology of art and religion; 7. Advanced in basic and clinical research methodology including qualitative and quantitative research and new research findings.
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