ETHNOLINGUISTIC CORRELATES OF ALEXITHYMIA - TOWARD A CULTURAL-PERSPECTIVE

Gender and ethnolinguistic correlates of alexithymia were explored by having a large, ethnically heterogeneous sample of university students in Toronto, Canada, complete the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (T AS-20). Men scored higher in the externally oriented thinking factor t han women. Non-native English speakers scored higher on the overall TA S-20, as well as on the difficulty identifying feelings factor, than n ative English speakers. Further analyses showed that native Chinese la nguage speakers scored consistently higher than native English and nat ive European language speakers on the overall TAS-20 and its three und erlying factors. These ethnolinguistic differences may reflect sociocu ltural influences making ethnic Chinese individuals likely to be less psychologically minded and more somatically oriented vis-a-vis their e motions than those from Western, ethnocultural traditions. Whether ale xithymia should be construed as an ''etic'' construct (i.e., widely ap plicable across many different cultures) or an ''emic'' one (i.e., app licable to only one or two cultures) is discussed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.