Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Eur J Oral Sci. 2022 Feb;130(1):e12830. doi: 10.1111/eos.12830. Epub 2021 Nov 10.
We evaluated gender-specific associations of two dimensions of dental anxiety (anticipatory and treatment-related dental anxiety) with three dimensions of alexithymia: difficulty in identifying feelings, difficulty in describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking. The sample comprised 2558 parents from the general population participating in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Dental anxiety was measured with the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale and alexithymia with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Associations between dental anxiety and alexithymia dimensions were modelled using linear regression analysis adjusting for general anxiety and depressive symptoms, age, and education. Structural equation modeling assessed their interrelationships. In women, anticipatory dental anxiety was associated only with difficulty in identifying feelings, but treatment-related dental anxiety was associated with difficulty in identifying feelings, difficulty in describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking. In men, anticipatory dental anxiety was associated with only externally oriented thinking, whereas treatment-related dental anxiety was associated with difficulty in describing feelings, and with externally oriented thinking. Structural equation modelling showed that difficulty in identifying feelings was associated with anticipatory and treatment-related dental anxiety in women, whereas in men, only difficulty in describing feelings was associated with both types of dental anxiety. Anticipatory and treatment-related dental anxiety have different associations with alexithymia dimensions.
我们评估了两种牙科焦虑维度（预期性和与治疗相关的牙科焦虑）与三个述情障碍维度（感受识别困难、感受描述困难和外向思维）在性别上的特定关联。该样本包括来自一般人群的 2558 名参与芬兰脑出生队列研究的父母。使用改良牙科焦虑量表测量牙科焦虑，使用 20 项多伦多述情障碍量表测量述情障碍。使用线性回归分析调整一般焦虑和抑郁症状、年龄和教育程度后，对牙科焦虑与述情障碍维度之间的关联进行建模。结构方程模型评估了它们的相互关系。在女性中，预期性牙科焦虑仅与感受识别困难有关，而与治疗相关的牙科焦虑与感受识别困难、感受描述困难和外向思维有关。在男性中，预期性牙科焦虑仅与外向思维有关，而与治疗相关的牙科焦虑与感受描述困难和外向思维有关。结构方程模型表明，在女性中，感受识别困难与预期性和与治疗相关的牙科焦虑有关，而在男性中，只有感受描述困难与两种类型的牙科焦虑有关。预期性和与治疗相关的牙科焦虑与述情障碍维度有不同的关联。
