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. 2024 Jul 1:15:1412229.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1412229. eCollection 2024.

Alexithymia as a mediator between adverse childhood events and the development of psychopathology: a meta-analysis

Lorenz Kick  1 , Daniel Schleicher  2 , Angelika Ecker  2 , Stephanie Kandsperger  2 , Romuald Brunner  2 , Irina Jarvers  2
Affiliations

Alexithymia as a mediator between adverse childhood events and the development of psychopathology: a meta-analysis

Lorenz Kick et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: Victims of child abuse have an elevated risk of developing mental health issues later in life. Several variables have been suggested as mediators of this correlation, but little is known about the possible influence of alexithymia. Alexithymia is a sub-clinical personality trait that manifests as difficulties recognizing and verbalizing emotions.

Methods: In this study, two separate meta-analyses were conducted using questionnaire data, and Pearson correlations for overall effects were estimated.

Results: The correlation between child abuse and alexithymia showed to be significant (r = .26), as did the correlation between alexithymia and general psychopathology (r = .44). Further analyses revealed no indication for possible publication bias. When investigating differences between various subtypes of child maltreatment, each subtype significantly correlated with alexithymia. Emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect had stronger correlations than physical and sexual abuse.

Discussion: These results suggest that alexithymia plays a mediating role, at least in part, in the relationship between experiences of child abuse and general psychopathology in adulthood. Therefore, alexithymia may be relevant to further research and deserves attention in the prevention of and therapy for mental health issues in victims of child abuse.

Keywords: BSI; CTQ; SCL-90; TAS-20; alexithymia; child abuse; psychopathology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study selection process for investigating the relationship between child maltreatment and alexithymia.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Study selection process for the correlation between alexithymia and psychopathology.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot summarizing the effects of the meta-analysis of the CTQ and TAS correlation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot for the meta-analysis of the CTQ and TAS correlation. Studies in the grey area had significant results with α = .05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot summarizing the effects of the meta-analysis of the TAS and SCL correlation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Funnel plot for the meta-analysis of the TAS and SCL correlation. Studies in the grey area had significant results with α = .05.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Model of mediation for child abuse, alexithymia, and psychopathology. The strength of the correlation is indicated by Pearson correlations as calculated in the meta-analyses. Both correlations are significant with α = .05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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