Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Nov;16(8):1177-86.
doi: 10.1177/1359105311402407. Epub 2011 Apr 4.

Depression partially mediates the relationship between alexithymia and somatization in a sample of healthy children

Laura B Allen  1 , Qian Lu, Jennie C I Tsao, Loran P Hayes, Lonnie K Zeltzer
Affiliations

Depression partially mediates the relationship between alexithymia and somatization in a sample of healthy children

Laura B Allen et al. J Health Psychol. 2011 Nov.

Abstract

A link between alexithymia and somatization has been widely established, yet little is known about different factors that may influence this relationship. Evidence supporting the idea of psychopathology as a mediator has been presented but not widely tested, particularly in children. The present study examined depressive symptoms as a mediator of alexithymia and somatization in a sample of healthy children in order to better understand the alexithymia-somatization link from a developmental perspective. Results indicated that depression significantly partially mediated this relationship, at least for two facets of alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing feelings). Possible mechanisms, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mediation models of difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF), depression, and somatization, controlling for child age. B = unstandardized regression coefficient; β = standardized regression coefficient. **p < .01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bagby RM, Parker JDA, Taylor GJ. The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale - I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 1994;38:23–32. - PubMed
    1. Bagby RM, Taylor GJ, Parker JDA. The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale - II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 1994;38:33–40. - PubMed
    1. Bailey PE, Henry JD. Alexithymia, somatization and negative affect in a community sample. Psychiatry Research. 2007;150:13–20. - PubMed
    1. Burba B, Oswald R, Grigaliunien V, Neverauskiene S, Jankuviene O, Chue P. A controlled study of alexithymia in adolescent patients with persistent somatoform pain disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2006;51:468–471. - PubMed
    1. Craighead WE, Curry JF, Ilardi SS. Relationship of the Children’s Depression Inventory factors to major depression among adolescents. Psychological Assessment. 1995;7:171–176.