Comparison of 26-item and 20-item versions of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale for psychiatric outpatients

This study compared the 20-item revised Toronto Alexithymia Scale with the 26-item version for 257 psychiatric outpatients. Scores on the 20-item vers ion significantly correlated with those on the 26-item inventory even when controlled for depressed mood. Furthermore, the 20-item scale showed greate r internal consistency. Factor analysis for both versions indicated three s ubfactors but the factors in the TAS-20 accounted for greater common varian ce (92%) than for the factors in the TAS-26 (78%). The total variance accou nted for by these factors on the TAS-20 (45%) was also greater than for the TAS-26 (38%).