Associations between facets of pathological personality traits and alexithymia: The roles of detachment and negative affect

The current study examined (1) whether underlying facets of Detachment and Negative Affect are associated with the different components of alexithymia, and (2) whether these associations depend on the level of perceived stress. In total, 635 students (Mage = 20.02, 87.5% female) filled out online questionnaires on alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale), pathological personality traits (Personality Inventory for DSM-V), and perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale). Two Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) were used to test the hypotheses, which included the three subscales of alexithymia (i.e., difficulty identifying feelings [DIF], difficulty describing feelings [DDF], externally oriented thinking [EOT]) as dependent variables and the three underlying facet traits of either Detachment (i.e., withdrawal, anhedonia, intimacy avoidance) or Negative Affect (i.e., emotional lability, anxiousness, separation insecurity) as independent variables. Intimacy avoidance was most consistently associated with all alexithymia components. Other facets showed dimension-specific associations: DIF was positively associated with anhedonia, anxiousness, separation insecurity, and emotional lability; DDF was positively associated with withdrawal and anxiousness, but negatively with emotional lability; and EOT was positively associated with separation insecurity. These findings highlight the importance of facet traits characteristic of interpersonal difficulties in the association with specific alexithymia subscales. These associations were not dependent on the level of perceived stress. The present results point to interpersonal avoidance and
emotion-regulation difficulties as relevant processes to address in interventions. Targeting these facet-linked difficulties may therefore be particularly useful in reducing alexithymic features among individuals with elevated pathological personality traits.