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Validation of a Greek adaptation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale
Ioannis Tsaousis1, Graeme Taylor, Lena Quilty
1Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Crete 74100, Greece. tsaousis@psy.soc.uoc.gr
Background:
The purpose of the current investigation was (1) to test whether the 3-factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) corresponding to the theoretical conceptualization of the alexithymia construct could be recovered in a Greek translation of the scale (the TAS-20-G), (2) to assess if a 3-factor structure provides a better fit to the TAS-20-G compared with the recently proposed alternative factor structures, and (3) to evaluate the internal reliability of the TAS-20-G.
Methods:
The English version of the TAS-20 was translated into Greek and then back-translated and modified until cross-language equivalence was established. The Greek version was then administered to 340 university students. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and 4 different factor structure models were compared. Internal consistency and item-to-scale homogeneity of the TAS-20-G and its factor scales were also evaluated.
Results:
The 3-factor model provided a good fit to the data and proved superior to alternative 1-, 2-, and 4-factor models. Apart from a coefficient alpha below the recommended range for the externally oriented thinking factor, the TAS-20-G and its factor scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency and homogeneity.
Conclusion:
The TAS-20-G is a valid and reliable measure of alexithymia in university students and may be suitable for investigations of alexithymia in other Greek-speaking population samples.
