ALEXITHYMIA PARTIALLY MEDIATES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL INVALIDATION AND EMOTION DYSREGULATION

Abstract

Emotion dysregulation has been shown to be positively associated with parental invalidation. However, the underlying mechanism between these two variables is still not fully understood. The current study explored the relationship between parental invalidation, emotion dysregulation and alexithymia by hypothesizing that alexithymia acts as a mediator between parental invalidation and emotion dysregulation. The temporal precedence of alexithymia and emotion dysregulation was also examined via path analysis. The sample (N = 292) consisted of adolescents recruited in a multi-ethnic Asian country, Singapore. Participants answered three sets of questionnaires throughout 1 year with intervals of 6 months. Results of mediation analysis revealed that alexithymia partially mediated the relationship between parental invalidation and emotion dysregulation, whereas path analysis of alexithymia and emotion dysregulation did not show a consistent result for any conclusive interpretation of their temporal sequence. The findings of this study emphasise the importance of alexithymia in improving emotion regulation skills, especially for adolescents with a history of invalidating childhood. The implications and limitations of the present study are also discussed.