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
{"title":"A pilot study on alexithymia in adopted youths: prevalence and relationships with emotional-behavioral problems","authors":"S. Muzi, C. S. Pace","doi":"10.6092/2282-1619/MJCP-2583","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":18428,"journal":{"name":"Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2020-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.6092/2282-1619/MJCP-2583","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
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.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
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。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
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.
期刊最新文献
Adult Attachment, Loneliness, Covid-19 Risk Perception and Perceived Stress During Covid-19 Pandemic XXII NATIONAL CONGRESS ITALIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CLINICAL AND DYNAMIC SECTION LECCE -SEPTEMBER 17-19 2021 - SYMPOSIUM SESSION Why do we call it addiction? Epistemological reflections on the world of addiction Social support and its associations with Depression and Anxiety: an in-depth Analysis using Structural Equation Modeling Using Prediction Error to Account for the Pervasiveness of Mood Congruent Thoughts
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1