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. 2006 Aug;61(2):275-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2006.01.014.

Alexithymia behaves as a personality trait over a 5-year period in Finnish general population

J K Salminen  1 , S Saarijärvi, T Toikka, J Kauhanen, E Aärelä
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Alexithymia behaves as a personality trait over a 5-year period in Finnish general population

J K Salminen et al. J Psychosom Res. 2006 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: Temporal stability is a basic assumption underlying any personality trait construct. Previous research on the stability of alexithymia has led to a controversy over whether alexithymia should be viewed as a state-dependent phenomenon or as a stable personality trait. The aim of this 5-year longitudinal study was to examine the temporal stability of alexithymia in the general population in Finland.

Methods: Alexithymia was measured with the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) at the baseline and 5 years later.

Results: The test-retest correlations of the TAS-20 total and factor-specific scores at the baseline and at the 5-year follow-up ranged from moderate to high in both genders, reflecting a rather high relative stability of the TAS-20 scores over a period of 5 years.

Conclusions: The findings of our study suggest that alexithymia behaves like a stable personality trait in the general population.

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