Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales

Laura Balottin,1 Renata Nacinovich,2 Monica Bomba,2 Stefania Mannarini1 1Interdepartmental Center of Family Research, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, Section of Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; 2Childhood and Adolescence Neuropsychiat...

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Autores principales:	Balottin L, Nacinovich R, Bomba M, Mannarini S
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Dove Medical Press 2014
Materias:	Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system RC346-429
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4cb39d0984d84d9988ad454d9105937e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4cb39d0984d84d9988ad454d9105937e2021-12-02T00:30:15ZAlexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales1178-2021https://doaj.org/article/4cb39d0984d84d9988ad454d9105937e2014-10-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.dovepress.com/alexithymia-in-parents-and-adolescent-anorexic-daughters-comparing-the-peer-reviewed-article-NDThttps://doaj.org/toc/1178-2021 Laura Balottin,1 Renata Nacinovich,2 Monica Bomba,2 Stefania Mannarini1 1Interdepartmental Center of Family Research, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, Section of Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; 2Childhood and Adolescence Neuropsychiatric Unit, San Gerardo Hospital, University of Milan-Bicocca, Monza, Italy Background: A growing body of literature has been focusing on individual alexithymia in anorexia nervosa, while there are only scarce and conflicting studies on alexithymia in the families of anorexic patients, despite the important role played by family dynamics in the development of the anorexic disorder, especially in adolescent patients. The aim of this study is to assess alexithymia in anorexic adolescent patients and in their parents using a multimethod measurement to gain more direct, in-depth knowledge of the problem. Methods: Forty-six subjects, anorexic adolescent patients and their parents, underwent the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) along with the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA), which represents the first comprehensive clinically structured interview focused specifically on assessing alexithymia. The use of latent trait Rasch analysis allowed a comparison of the two instruments’ sensitivity and ability to detect the presence and intensity of alexithymic components in patients and parents. Results: Significant discordance was found between the two measures. The clinical instrument allowed detection of a greater level of alexithymia compared with the self-report, in particular in our adult parent sample. Moreover, a significant alexithymic gap emerged within families, particularly within parental couples, with noticeably more alexithymic fathers compared with the mothers. Conclusion: The TSIA clinical interview may be a more sensitive instrument in detecting alexithymia, minimizing parents’ negation tendency. Clinical questions have arisen on how useful it would be to give greater weight to family functioning (ie, alexithymic gap) in order to predict the possibility of establishing a therapeutic alliance, and thus the outcome of the anorexic adolescent. Keywords: anorexia, adolescence, family, Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Rasch modelBalottin LNacinovich RBomba MMannarini SDove Medical PressarticleNeurosciences. Biological psychiatry. NeuropsychiatryRC321-571Neurology. Diseases of the nervous systemRC346-429ENNeuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, Vol 2014, Iss default, Pp 1941-1951 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system RC346-429
spellingShingle	Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system RC346-429 Balottin L Nacinovich R Bomba M Mannarini S Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales
description	Laura Balottin,1 Renata Nacinovich,2 Monica Bomba,2 Stefania Mannarini1 1Interdepartmental Center of Family Research, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, Section of Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; 2Childhood and Adolescence Neuropsychiatric Unit, San Gerardo Hospital, University of Milan-Bicocca, Monza, Italy Background: A growing body of literature has been focusing on individual alexithymia in anorexia nervosa, while there are only scarce and conflicting studies on alexithymia in the families of anorexic patients, despite the important role played by family dynamics in the development of the anorexic disorder, especially in adolescent patients. The aim of this study is to assess alexithymia in anorexic adolescent patients and in their parents using a multimethod measurement to gain more direct, in-depth knowledge of the problem. Methods: Forty-six subjects, anorexic adolescent patients and their parents, underwent the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) along with the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA), which represents the first comprehensive clinically structured interview focused specifically on assessing alexithymia. The use of latent trait Rasch analysis allowed a comparison of the two instruments’ sensitivity and ability to detect the presence and intensity of alexithymic components in patients and parents. Results: Significant discordance was found between the two measures. The clinical instrument allowed detection of a greater level of alexithymia compared with the self-report, in particular in our adult parent sample. Moreover, a significant alexithymic gap emerged within families, particularly within parental couples, with noticeably more alexithymic fathers compared with the mothers. Conclusion: The TSIA clinical interview may be a more sensitive instrument in detecting alexithymia, minimizing parents’ negation tendency. Clinical questions have arisen on how useful it would be to give greater weight to family functioning (ie, alexithymic gap) in order to predict the possibility of establishing a therapeutic alliance, and thus the outcome of the anorexic adolescent. Keywords: anorexia, adolescence, family, Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Rasch model
format	article
author	Balottin L Nacinovich R Bomba M Mannarini S
author_facet	Balottin L Nacinovich R Bomba M Mannarini S
author_sort	Balottin L
title	Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales
title_short	Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales
title_full	Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales
title_fullStr	Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales
title_full_unstemmed	Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales
title_sort	alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to tsia and tas-20 scales
publisher	Dove Medical Press
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/4cb39d0984d84d9988ad454d9105937e
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Alexithymia in parents and adolescent anorexic daughters: comparing the responses to TSIA and TAS-20 scales

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