The affects of attachment styles and psychosociodemografic variables on alexithymia levels in adults

In this research, the attachment styles (anxious and avoidance attachment styles) and psychosociodemographic variables on alexithymia levels in adults have been researched. 276 adults, residing in various regions of Turkey, have volunteered for this research, of whom 192 are female and 84 are male. to determine the psychosociodemographical traits a "Demographic Survey" created by the researcher, to determine the alexithymia levels "Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)" and to determine the attachment styles "Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ESC-R)" have been employed. The daha has been collected by filling out the online survey. In order to answer the research questions primarily, a correletion analysis has been conducted. By conducting the hierarchical linear step-by-step regression analysis afterwards, it has been observed that anxious and avoidance attachment styles have regressed the total alexithymia score and difficulty in identifying feelings subscale. Furthermore it has been observed that avoiding attachment styles has regressed into difficulty in describing feelings subscale. On the other hand , with the results of a Independent Samples T-Test, Mann-Whitney U and ANOVA, it has been discovered that the total alexithymia score and externally-orriented thinking subscale points are higher in males than females. In addition to that, in total alexithymia points and all base dimensions, subjects with a high school degree or less have shown to have higher results than subjects with graduate and postgraduate degrees. Finally, subjects that are in a romantic relationship have scored higher than the subjects that are in a romantic relationship, on the total alexithymia score, getting higher points on difficulty in describing feelings and diffficulty in identifying feelings.