ALEXITHYMIA, ANGER AND ANGER EXPRESSION STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS -

Objective: The literature review shows that alexithymia, anger and anger expression styles have been important variables in predicting psychological symptoms. Furthermore, alexithymic characteristics may cause various difficulties in anger and expression of it. From this point of view, the aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the alexithymia, anger and anger expression styles predicted psychological symptoms in the university sample. Method: In the present study, to assess whether the participants have alexithymic characteristics 20-item “Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)”; to assess anger and anger expression styles of participants “State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory” (STAXI); and to screen psychological symptoms of participants “Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)” with Demographic Information Form were implemented to the participants which were composed of 434 students (224 women, 190 men) from different departmens of Hacettepe University. After the correlation analysis to evaluate the relationships between all variables of the study, the hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to investigate how much alexithymia, anger and anger expression styles predicted psychological symptoms. Results: According to the regression analysis, it was concluded that alexithymia, the trait anger and anger-in positively predicted psychological symptoms. Conclusion: The present study points out that alexithymic characteristics, anger and anger expression styles explain psychological symptoms. Additionally, it emphasizes that the benefit of addressing alexithymic characteristics, the frequency of anger experience and the healthy ways of anger expression simultaneously and as a whole in psychotherapies aiming to reduce psychological symptoms even if they do not require a diagnosis.