Alexithymia as a mediator between childhood trauma and self-injurious behaviors

The aim of this study was to test whether alexithymia mediates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and self-injurious behaviors (SIB) in college women.

The sample was comprised of 100 female undergraduate students. Measures were the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire [D. Bernstein, L. Fink, Manual for the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, The Psychological Corporation, New York, 1998], the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 [Journal of Psychosomatic Research 38 (1994) 23; Journal of Psychosomatic Research 38 (1994) 33], and the Self-Injurious Behaviors Questionnaire which assessed the lifetime frequency of six methods of superficial self-injury (hair pulling, head banging, punching, scratching, cutting, and burning). Regression analyses were used to test the proposed mediational model.

Forty-one percent of respondents reported having engaged in SIB; most engaged in multiple methods, and self-cutting was the most frequently endorsed method. Results of regression analyses supported the proposed mediational model for all types of maltreatment except sexual abuse. Sexual abuse, considered alone, was not significantly associated with alexithymia which precluded testing for mediational effects.

Results support a link between a history of childhood maltreatment and SIB among college women and the hypothesis that alexithymia mediates this relationship.