Alexithymia’s Epiphenomenality as a Mediator Between Unsupportive Emotion Socialization and Later Psychopathology

Abstract

In accord with its conceptualization as a deficit, alexithymia has often been theorized and tested as a mediator of the association between childhood risk factors and later psychopathology. However, this is questioned by recent research which conceptualizes alexithymia as the result of negative perceptions of emotions, which by themselves could act as the real mediator of this association between childhood risk factors and later psychopathology. Cross-sectional data were collected through self-report questionnaires,from 193 undergraduate students. Results suggest that, in non-clinical samples, the association between an unsupportive emotion socialization alexithymia is completely mediated by avoidance-related negative attitudes towards sadness. Also, the association between emotion socialization and later psychopathology is not (in the case of borderline personality traits) or only minimally (in the case of depressive symptoms) mediated by alexithymia when these avoidance-related negative attitudes towards sadness are also included as a mediator. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.