Development of the Alexithymia Scale for Children: a preliminary study.

The Alexithymia Scale for Children-Teacher Form was developed with a sample of 286 elementary schoolchildren. The validity and reliability of the measure were supported by factor analytic structure, relatively high internal consistency, test-retest correlation over 2 mo., and correlations of .24 to .39 with scores on the Yatabe-Guilford Personality Test. Factor analysis yielded two factors related to alexithymia, Difficulty in Describing Feelings and Difficulty Relating to Others. Alexithymia constructs such as a paucity of fantasy life and externally oriented thinking were not recorded.