Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T18:20:33.863Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Sylvie Berthoz  and
Elisabeth L. Hill
Sylvie Berthoz*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, 42, Boulevard Jourdan, 75674Paris cedex 14, France
Elisabeth L. Hill
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Berthoz).
Get access

Abstract

Purpose

The current paper focused on the validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). To assess this we sought responses to two alexithymia self-reports and a depression self-report at two time points from adults with and without ASD.

Materials and methods

An initial sample of 27 adults with ASD and 35 normal adults completed the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20), the Bermond and Vorst alexithymia questionnaire-form B (BVAQ-B), and the Beck depression inventory (BDI), at test time 1. Of these individuals, 19 ASD and 29 controls participated again after a period ranging from 4 to 12 months.

Results

ASD participants were able to report about their own emotions using self-reports. BVAQ-B showed reasonable convergent validity and test–retest reliability in both groups. Scores on both alexithymia scales were stable across the two participant groups. However, results revealed that although the TAS-20 total score discriminated between the two groups at both time points, the BVAQ-B total score did not. Moreover, the TAS-20 showed stronger test–retest reliability than the BVAQ-B.

Conclusion

ASD participants appeared more depressed and more alexithymic than the controls. The use of the BVAQ-B, as an additional assessment of alexithymia, indicated that ASD patients have a specific type of alexithymia characterised by increased difficulties in the cognitive domain rather than the affective aspects of alexithymia.

Keywords

Emotion regulationAlexithymiaAutism spectrum disorderTAS-20BVAQ
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , May 2005 , pp. 291 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bagby, RM, Taylor, GJMeasurement and validation of the alexithymia construct. Taylor, GJ, Bagby, RM, Parker, JDADisorders of affect regulation: alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. 1997 Cambridge University Press Cambridge4666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagby, RM, Parker, JDA, Taylor, GJThe twenty-item Toronto alexithymia scale-I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. J Psychosom Res 1994 38 2332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bagby, RM, Taylor, GJ, Parker, JDAThe twenty-item Toronto alexithymia scale-II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. J Psychosom Res 1994 38 3340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, SThe extreme male brain theory of autism. TICS 2002 6 248254.Google ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S, Tager-Flusberg, H, Cohen, DUnderstanding other minds. Perspectives from autism Oxford University Press Oxford 1993Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S, Tager-Flusberg, H, Cohen, DUnderstanding other minds. Perspectives from developmental neuroscience Oxford University Press Oxford 2000Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S, Wheelwright, S, Skinner, R, Martin, J, Clubley, EThe autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, mathematicians and scientists. J Autism Dev Disord 2001 31 517.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S, Richler, J, Bisarya, D, Gurunathan, N, Wheelwright, SThe systemizing quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism and normal sex differences. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2003 358 361374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, AT, Steer, R, Garbin, MPsychometric properties of the Beck depression inventory: 25 years of research. Clin Psychol Rev 1988 8 77100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bermond, BBrain and alexithymia. Vingerhoets, A, Bussel, F, Boelhouwer, JThe (non)expression of emotions in health and disease Tilburg University Press Tilburg, The Netherlands 1997 115130.Google Scholar
Berthoz, S, Ouhayoun, B, Perez-Diaz, F, Consoli, SM, Jouvent, RComparison of the psychometric properties of two self-report questionnaires measuring alexithymia: confirmatory analysis of the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale and the Bermond–Vorst alexithymia questionnaire. Eur Rev Appl Psychol 2000 50 359368.Google Scholar
Frith, UAutism: explaining the enigma. 2nd ed Blackwell Publishing Oxford 2003Google Scholar
Gerland, GA real person: life on the outside [Tate J, Trans.]. Souvenir London 1997Google Scholar
Grandin, T, Scariano, MMEmergence labelled autistic. Costello Bodmin 1986Google Scholar
Haviland, MG, Reise, SPA California Q-set alexithymia prototype and its relationship to ego-control and ego-resiliency. J Psychosom Res 1996 41 597608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haviland, MG, Warren, WL, Riggs, ML, Gallacher, MPsychometric properties of the observer alexithymia scale in a clinical sample. J Pers Assess 2001 77 176186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, E, Berthoz, S, Frith, UCognitive processing of own emotions in individuals with autistic spectrum disorder and their relatives. J Autism Dev Disord 2004 4 229235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobson, RPAutism and the development of mind Lawrence Erlbaum Hove, HK 1993Google Scholar
Honkalampi, K, Hintikka, J, Tanskanen, A, Lehtonen, J, Viinamäki, HDepression is strongly associated with alexithymia in the general population. J Psychosom Res 2000 48 99104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kooiman, CG, Spinhoven, P, Trijsburg, RWThe assessment of alexithymia. A critical review of the literature and a psychometric study of the Toronto alexithymia scale-20. J Psychosom Res 2002 53 10831090.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lainhart, JE, Folstein, SAffective disorders in people with autism: a review of published cases. J Autism Dev Disord 1994 24 587601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lane, RD, Sechrest, L, Riedel, RSociodemographic correlates of alexithymia. Compr Psychiatry 1998 39 377385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Müller, J, Bühner, M, Ellgring, HThe assessment of alexithymia: psychometric properties of the Bermond–Vorst alexithymia questionnaire. Pers Indiv Diff. 2004 [in press]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousson, V, Gasser, T, Seifert, BAssessing intrarater, interrater and test–retest reliability of continuous measurements. Stat Med 2002 21 34313446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salminen, JK, Saarijarvi, S, Aarela, E, Toikka, T, Kauhanen, JPrevalence of alexithymia and its association with sociodemographic variables in the general population of Finland. J Psychosom Res 1999 46 7582.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sifnéos, PEThe prevalence of alexithymic characteristics in psychosomatic patients. Psychother Psychosom 1973 22 255262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sifnéos, PEAlexithymia: past and present. Am J Psychiatry. 153 1996 137142.Google ScholarPubMed
Taylor, GJRecent development in alexithymia theory and research. Can J Psychiatry 2000 45 134142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, GJ, Ryan, D, Bagby, RMToward the development of a new self-report alexithymia scale. Psychother Psychosom 1985 44 191199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, GJ, Bagby, RM, Parker, JDADisorders of affect regulation: alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. Cambridge University Press Cambridge 1997CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vorst, HCM, Bermond, BValidity and reliability of the Bermond–Vorst alexithymia questionnaire. Pers Indiv Diff 2001;30: 413–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zech, E, Luminet, O, Rime, B, Wagner, HAlexithymia and its measurement: confirmatory factor analyses of the twenty-item Toronto alexithymia scale and the Bermond–Vorst alexithymia questionnaire. Eur J Pers 1998;13: 511–532.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.