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Cross-Cultural Validation of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in U.S. and Peruvian Populations

McGill University, Canada

Sylvie Cossette

UniversitÈ de MontrÈal, Canada

The cross-cultural relevance of alexithymia, a psychological construct related to emotional expressiveness, is explored through construct validation using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and two theoretically related concepts – patient self-disclosure (SD) and private selfconsciousness (PSC) – among English-speaking Americans (N= 333) and Spanish-speaking Peruvians (N= 228). In the American sample, the TAS-20 showed psychometric properties similar to those reported elsewhere with North American and European samples. However, with the Peruvian sample, the Spanish version of the TAS-20 had low internal consistency, low mean inter-item correlations and the original three-factor structure could not be duplicated. Semi-structured interviews with Peruvian informants (n= 10) point to difficulties responding to negatively keyed items and low reliance on introspection when describing affective states. In light of these findings, issues related to translation adequacy, measurement error and cross-cultural equivalence in construct operationalization are discussed.

Key Words: alexithymia • cross-cultural validation • private self-consciousness • self-disclosure

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