A systematic review of alexithymia in young people and their parents

This systematic review is the first to investigate whether there is a correlation in levels of alexithymia in young people and their parents, with the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation.

Alexithymia means "no words for feelings" and encompasses three components: difficulty identifying feelings (DIF¹), difficulty describing feelings (DDF²) and externally oriented thinking (EOT³). Alexithymia is common, affecting 9-17 % of men and 5-10 % of women. Alexithymic adults and children experience higher rates of mental illness. Evidence points to a multifactorial cause including neurobiological, genetic and environmental factors and experienced parenting style. Parental alexithymia has been linked with parental burnout and psychopathology in their children.

A systematic search was undertaken for studies presenting data that directly compared parent-child alexithymic characteristics/measures. Quantitative data were extracted, and a meta-analysis carried out to estimate the overall effect size of this correlation.

Ten studies were included in the review, including seven in meta-analysis. There was a statistically significant weak mother-child correlation in the level of alexithymia for total scores (r = 0.24, p = 0.01) and subscale scores (DIF r = 0.18, p = 0.02; DDF r = 0.15, p = 0.04; EOT r = 0.12, p = 0.006). In relation to fathers, there was a statistically significant weak correlation with total score (r = 0.16, p = 0.01) but not subscale scores. Rates of alexithymia were much higher in young people with mental and physical health diagnoses (12-46 %), compared with non-clinical populations (9 %), in keeping with previous research.

Alexithymia is common in adolescents with mental and physical health diagnosis, and there is a small but consistent correlation in child-parent alexithymia, in keeping with the understanding of a multifactorial cause for alexithymia. Future research should consider family-based interventions for alexithymia.