Beliefs about the effects of social sharing of emotion in alexithymia

Emotional events are followed by recurrent talking about the event (Social Sharing of Emotion, SSE). Several factors that can account for variations in beliefs about SSE were examined: alexithymia, age and sex among two sample groups, Spanish (n = 388) and Uruguayan (n = 537).

Both samples completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Beliefs about Social Sharing of Emotion Questionnaire (BSEQ).

Results indicated that alexithymia was negatively related to beliefs about SSE. Low alexithymia was associated with higher agreement with positive intrapersonal effects of SSE and disagreement with benefits of non-expression or inhibition, and beliefs in positive interpersonal effect of social sharing were unrelated to alexithymia. Cultural and gender differences were found regarding beliefs about SSE. Regression analyses suggest that alexithymia significantly predicted beliefs about SSE.

The pattern of results suggests that more collectivist and traditional cultures, such as the Uruguayan, attach less value to SSE. Results and implications are discussed.