Parenting, childhood maltreatment and alexithymia

Theoretical models and empirical findings indicate that alexithymia is determined by environmental factors experienced early in life, among them parenting behaviors and childhood trauma. However, empirical research has yielded inconclusive results regarding their association with alexithymia. In particular, the differential impact of these factors is not well understood. 267 psychiatric patients were assessed by self-report measures on perceived parenting, childhood trauma, current psychopathology and alexithymia. Although there were some bivariate associations, linear regression analyses revealed that only parental overprotection was associated with TAS-20 total score and with extern oriented thinking; childhood trauma did not predict alexithymia. Our findings are discussed in light of prior research, and suggest that environmental factors not explicitly mentally represented play an important role in the development of alexithymia.