Alexithymia and internalizing-externalizing problems in late-adopted and community adolescents: a multi-method comparative study

Introduction. Late-adopted adolescents, i.e. adopted after 12 months, have a greater likelihood to have been exposed to pre-adoption traumatic experiences, showing consequent difficulties in affective awareness. An index of affective awareness’ difficulties during adolescence is alexithymia, which is greater along with early traumas, and it also represents a risk factor for internalizing-externalizing problems during adolescence. However, no studies investigated alexithymia in late-adoptees. Aims: 1) to compare late-adopted adolescents and community controls in alexithymia using a multi-method approach; 2) to explore relations between alexithymia and internalizing-externalizing problems in both groups; 3) to measure convergence between alexithymia assessed with TAS-20 and TSIA in both groups. Methods. 30 late-adopted and 30 community adolescents aged 12-18 years old (matched for gender and age) were assessed in alexithymia, using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA), and in internalizing-externalizing problems with the Child Behavior Check List 6-18 years (CBCL). Results:1) No between-groups differences in alexithymia and internalizing-externalizing problems were revealed. 2) In both groups, alexithymia’s factor Difficulty to Identifying Feelings (DIF) was positively related to higher total and externalizing problems only when the interview TSIA was employed; 3) TAS-20 and TSIA showed convergent results only in community adolescents. Discussion: Late-adopted teenagers did not differ from community peers in levels of alexithymia and internalizing-externalizing problems, nor in their relationships. However, implications include the greater need to use a multi-method approach to assess alexithymia in adoptees, due to a lack of convergent validity TAS-20/TSIA in this group