The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and Attention-Appraisal Model: Exploring an Alternative Measurement and Conceptualisation of Alexithymia

Abstract

The construct of alexithymia, or the inability to recognise and describe one's own emotions, has gained significant interest in the field of psychology. Currently, the Toronto model and TAS-20 measure dominate as the most widely applied frameworks in alexithymia research. Recent advances in emotion research have emphasised the influence of emotional valence, or the extent to which the hedonic tone of an emotion is positive or negative. As such, biased sensitivity in the direction of negative valence has seen the TAS-20 subjected to recent criticism. To bridge this limitation, a new measure and model have been developed to assess alexithymia across both valences; the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and attention-appraisal model. To date, the utility of valence-specificity in alexithymia measurement has not been investigated. Hierarchical linear regression was used to compare the efficacy of the TAS-20 and PAQ as predictors of explicit and implicit positive and negative affect. The PAQ was not found to account for any significant variance in explicit and implicit affect over and above the variance accounted for by the TAS-20, providing negligible support for the added utility of valence-specific subscales in the prediction of affect. The attention-appraisal model positions appraisal as a mediator in the relationship between attention and affect response. The present study was also the first to examine this pathway, finding evidence for the indirect effect of difficulty attending to emotions on affect response via difficulty appraising feelings in the context of negative, but not positive explicit affect. Possible implications and future directions are discussed.