NURULLAH BOLAT, MESUT YAVUZ, Kayı ELİAÇIK, Adil ZORLU, Cüneyt EVREN, Samet KÖSE

Yirmi maddelik Toronto Aleksitimi Ölçeğinin bir grup Türk ergen üzerinde psikometrik özelliklerinin değerlendirilmesi

Amaç: Aleksitiminin ergenlerin ruh sağlığı üzerinde erişkinlere benzer olumsuz sonuçları vardır. Bununla birlikte, Türk ergenlerde klinik uygulama veya araştırmalar için kullanılmak üzere bir aleksitimi ölçeği yoktur. Bu çalışmanın amacı 20-Maddelik Toronto Aleksitimi Ölçeği'nin (Türkçe TAS-20) psikometrik özelliklerinin bir grup Türk ergen üzerinde değerlendirmektir. Yöntem: Türkçe TAS-20, 12-17 yaşları arasındaki 948 ergene (439 erkek, 509 kız) uygulanmıştır. Olguların tümü (aralık: 12-17 yaş), erken dönemdeki (aralık: 12-14 yaş) ve geç dönemdeki (aralık: 15-17 yaş) ergenler olmak üzere gruplanmıştır. Cronbach ? katsayıları, maddeler arası ortalama korelasyon, faktörler arası korelasyonlar, doğrulayıcı faktör analizi ve uyum indeksleri saptandı. Bulgular: Cronbach ? katsayıları

Psychometric properties of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in a Turkish adolescent sample

Objective: Alexithymia have the similar negative consequences for mental health in adolescence as in adulthood. However, there is no alexithymia scale for clinical and research purposes in Turkish adolescents. This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Turkish TAS20) in a Turkish adolescent sample. Methods: Turkish TAS-20 was administered to 948 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years (439 male, 509 female). The participants were grouped as total sample (range: 12-17 years), younger (range: 12-14 years) and older (range: 15 and 17 years) adolescents. Cronbach's ? coefficients, mean inter-item correlations, intercorrelations of factors, confirmatory factor analysis, and measures of goodness-of-fit were determined. Results: The Cronbach's ? coefficients were 0.78 for the total scale, 0.80, 0.68, 0.40 for the factor 1, factor 2, and factor 3, respectively. The Cronbach's ? coefficient for full scale was favorable for total group. The Cronbach's ? coefficient for factor 3 was reasonable in older (0.55 for 15-17 years old), however, it was low in younger adolescents (0.20 for 12-14 years old). All criteria of goodness-of-fit met the standards for adequacy-of-fit for all age groups. The mean inter-item correlation coefficients for the total sample, 12-14 year old group, and 1517 year old group were 0.15, 0.11, and 0.21, respectively and were in the acceptable range from 0.10 to 0.50. Conclusion: The psychometric properties of Turkish TAS-20 for adolescents were comparable with the results of the reliability and validity study of Turkish TAS-20 in Turkish adults. However, caution should be taken when interpreting the results, because factor 3 appears to have weak psychometric properties. Considering factor 3, we suggest that the Turkish TAS-20 best fits for adolescents who are older than 14 years old.

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