The prediction of alexithymia in adolescents based on cognitive flexibility and difficulties in emotion regulation of mothers

Authors
Arak University
Abstract
The present research was conducted with the aim of predicting alexithymia in adolescents based on cognitive flexibility and difficulties in emotion regulation of their mothers. This research was a descriptive-analytical study and conducted in the form of a correlational design. The statistical population included adolescents aged 13 to 18 years from Arak schools along with their mothers, 459 of them were selected by random cluster sampling. The students responded to twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and their mothers to Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, and the collected data were analyzed using stepwise regression. The findings showed that limited access to emotion regulation strategies (beta coefficient= 0.240) and lack of emotional clarity (beta coefficient=0.194) of mothers had a significant role in predicting the alexithymia in adolescent and explained about 14% of its variance. Other subscales of difficulties in emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility of mothers did not play a role in explaining it. As a result, difficulties in emotion regulation in mothers can play an important role in adolescent emotional alexithymia. Accordingly, strengthening mothers' emotion regulation skills is recommended to specialists as an important priority for improving the emotional health of their children.
Keywords

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