Alexithymia and personality in relation to social anxiety among university students

• Published in: Psychiatry research 2013-09, Vol.209 (2), p.167-172
• Main Authors: Dalbudak, Ercan, Evren, Cuneyt, Aldemir, Secil, Coskun, Kerem Senol, Yıldırım, Fatma Gul, Ugurlu, Hilal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective Symptoms - etiology; Alexithymia; Anxiety; Anxiety - complications; Anxiety - psychology; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Character; Depression; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Personality Disorders - etiology; Personality Inventory; Phobia; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Social anxiety; Social Behavior; Statistics as Topic; Students - psychology; Temperament; Universities; University students; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.11.027

Abstract The aims of the present study were to investigate the relationship of social anxiety symptoms with alexithymia and personality dimensions in university students and to control the effects of depression and anxiety on this relationship. A total of 319 university students (85 males and 234 females) from two different universities in Ankara were investigated with the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). We found that subscales of the LSAS (fear or anxiety and avoidance) were positively correlated with depression and alexithymia and “difficulty in identifying feelings” (DIF) and “difficulty in describing feelings” (DDF) subscales of the TAS-20. Harm avoidance (HA) showed positive correlations with subscales of the LSAS, whereas self-directedness (SD) showed negative correlations with these subscales. High TAS-20 DDFand HA and low SD predicted fear or anxiety LSAS subscale scores, whereas high TAS-20 DDF, HA and depression scores were predictors for LSAS avoidance subscale scores. Although our sample is not representative of the whole Turkish university student population, we conclude that both fear or anxiety and avoidance were mainly interrelated with DDF and HA, although the causal relationship is not clear.