scholarly journals Network Approach to Items and Domains From the Toronto Alexithymia Scale

2019 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 2038-2052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Briganti ◽  
Paul Linkowski

The aim of this study is to explore network structures of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale in a large sample of 1925 French-speaking Belgian university students and compare results with previous studies from different samples and tools to identify potential targets for clinical intervention. We estimated network models for the 20 items of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and for its three domains difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking. We explored item connectivity through node predictability (shared variance with other network components). We performed an exploratory graph analysis to explore the dimensionality of our data set and compare results with the original three-factor model; because a different model was proposed, we estimated an additional network structure on the new structure. Items from the Toronto Alexithymia Scale connect both within and between domains. The three-domain network identifies difficulty describing feelings as the most connected domain. The exploratory graph analysis reported that three items from externally oriented thinking form a new domain, distraction. In the new four-domain network, difficulty describing feelings remains the most interconnected domain; however, two negative connections are found. Our findings support the relative importance of identifying and describing feelings as a meaningful target for intervention.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Briganti ◽  
Paul Linkowski

The aim of this paper is to explore network structures of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) in a large sample of 1925 French-speaking Belgian university students and compare results with previous studies from different samples and tools to identify potential targets for clinical intervention. We estimated network models for the twenty items of the TAS and for its three domains difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings and externally-oriented thinking. We explored item connectivity through node predictability (shared variance with other network components). We performed an Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) to explore the dimensionality of our dataset and compare results with the original three-factor model; because a different model was proposed, we estimated an additional network structure on the new structure. Items from the TAS connect both within and between domains. The three-domain network identifies difficulty describing feelings as the most connected domain. The EGA reported that three items from externally-oriented thinking form a new domain, distraction. In the new four-domain network, difficulty describing feelings remains the most interconnected domain; however, two negative connections are found.Our findings support the relative importance of identifying and describing feelings as a meaningful target for intervention.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402098872
Author(s):  
Aliriza Arenliu ◽  
Brikena Krasniqi ◽  
Kaltrina Kelmendi ◽  
Shukrije Statovci

This study aims to examine the factor structure and validity of the Albanian TAS-20 (Toronto Alexithymia Scale) using a sample comprised of 342 students and 196 patients from a psychiatric clinic. Based on a literature review of studies of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), three types of models were tested: first-order models with method factors and covariances, a second-order model with method factors and covariances, and nested models with method factors and covariances. The findings suggest that a three-factor correlated model with method factors was the best and most parsimonious solution for the clinical sample, exhibiting adequate levels of performance based on the goodness of fit criteria. However, regarding the student sample, the nested three-factor model with method factors and covariances demonstrated a superior fit when compared with the other tested models. Although the total scale of difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) and difficulty describing feelings (DDF) scores provided sound internal consistency, the externally oriented thinking (EOT) subscale did not. Nonetheless, as the CFA suggests the plausibility of negatively keyed items in the method factors, further interpretation of this scale is suggested. This study concludes that the TAS-20 of the Albanian language is appropriate for research purposes, and further research is needed for its application for clinical practice.


1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. A. Parker ◽  
R. Michael Bagby ◽  
Graeme J. Taylor ◽  
Norman S. Endler ◽  
Paul Schmitz

The 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20) was developed in previous research to measure a general dimension of alexithymia with three inter correlated factors. These three factors reflect distinct facets of the alexithymia construct: (1) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing them from the bodily sensations of emotion, (2) difficulty describing feelings to others, and (3) an externally orientated style of thinking. This study tested the three‐factor model for the TAS‐20, using confirmatory factor analysis, in separate samples of young adults from Germany, Canada, and the United States. The previously established three‐factor model was found to be replicable in all three samples. In addition, the full TAS‐20 and its three factors demonstrated adequate internal reliability in all three samples. Although evaluation of the convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of the TAS‐20 is required in diverse cultural groups, the present results provide evidence for the factorial validity and internal reliability of the TAS‐20.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Jean Philippe Décieux ◽  
Philipp Emanuel Sischka ◽  
Anette Schumacher ◽  
Helmut Willems

Abstract. General self-efficacy is a central personality trait often evaluated in surveys as context variable. It can be interpreted as a personal coping resource reflecting individual belief in one’s overall competence to perform across a variety of situations. The German-language Allgemeine-Selbstwirksamkeit-Kurzskala (ASKU) is a reliable and valid instrument to assess this disposition in the German-speaking countries based on a three-item equation. This study develops a French version of the ASKU and tests this French version for measurement invariance compared to the original ASKU. A reliable and valid French instrument would make it easy to collect data in the French-speaking countries and allow comparisons between the French and German results. Data were collected on a sample of 1,716 adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a good fit for a single-factor model of the data (in total, French, and German version). Additionally, construct validity was assessed by elucidating intercorrelations between the ASKU and different factors that should theoretically be related to ASKU. Furthermore, we confirmed configural and metric as well as scalar invariance between the different language versions, meaning that all forms of statistical comparison between the developed French version and the original German version are allowed.


Author(s):  
Caroline Wehner ◽  
Ulrike Maaß ◽  
Marius Leckelt ◽  
Mitja D. Back ◽  
Matthias Ziegler

Abstract. The structure, correlates, and assessment of the Dark Triad are widely discussed in several fields of psychology. Based on the German version of the Short Dark Triad (SDT), we add to this by (a) providing a competitive test of existing structural models, (b) testing the nomological network, and (c) proposing an ultrashort 9-item version of the SDT (uSDT). A sample of N = 969 participants provided data on the SDT and a range of further measures. Our competitive test of five structural models revealed that fit indices and nomological network assumptions were best met in a three-factor model, with separate factors for psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism. The results provided an extensive overview of the raw, unique, and shared associations of Dark Triad dimensions with narcissism facets, sadism, impulsivity, self-esteem, sensation seeking, the Big Five, maladaptive personality traits, sociosexual orientation, and behavioral criteria. Finally, the uSDT exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties. The highest overlap in expected relations between SDT and uSDT, and convergent and discriminant measures was also found for the three-factor model. Our study underlines the utility of a three-factor model of the Dark Triad, extends findings on its nomological network, and provides an ultrashort instrument.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sevtap Cinan ◽  
Aslı Doğan

This research is new in its attempt to take future time orientation, morningness orientation, and prospective memory as measures of mental prospection, and to examine a three-factor model that assumes working memory, mental prospection, and cognitive insight are independent but related higher-order cognitive constructs by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The three-factor model produced a good fit to the data. An alternative one-factor model was tested and rejected. The results suggest that working memory and cognitive insight are distinguishable, related constructs, and that both are distinct from, but negatively associated with, mental prospection. In addition, structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that working memory had a strong positive effect on cognitive insight and a moderate negative effect on mental prospection.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. Lawrence ◽  
Gordon V. Karels ◽  
Suchi Mishra ◽  
Arun J. Prakash

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Nina Ryan ◽  
Xinfeng Ruan ◽  
Jin E. Zhang ◽  
Jing A. Zhang

In this paper, we test the applicability of different Fama–French (FF) factor models in Vietnam, we investigate the value factor redundancy and examine the choice of the profitability factor. Our empirical evidence shows that the FF five-factor model has more explanatory power than the FF three-factor model. The value factor remains important after the inclusion of profitability and investment factors. Operating profitability performs better than cash and return-on-equity (ROE) profitability as a proxy for the profitability factor in FF factor modeling. The value factor and operating profitability have the biggest marginal contribution to a maximum squared Sharpe ratio for the five-factor model factors, highlighting the value factor (HML) non-redundancy in describing stock returns in Vietnam.


2003 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Sevush ◽  
Gloria Peruyera ◽  
Annette Bertran ◽  
Wendy Cisneros

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