The survey of simultaneous factor structure of alexithymia and type D personality instruments in students

Introduction: Theoretically and conceptually the constructs of alexithymia and Type D personality share many common characteristics. Despite both measures being utilized widely in psychosomatic research, to-date no study has examined the constructs simultaneously. The present study was done to determine if alexithymia and Type D personality are distinct or overlapping constructs. Method: in this descriptive-survey research 384 students (248 female and 136 male) were selected via randomized multi stage sampling method among Hamadan Universities( Hamadan Islamic Azad, Bu-Ali Sina and Medical Sciences Universities) and answered to Toronto alexithymia (TAS,20) and type D personality scales. Data were analyzed using exploratory confirmatory factor analysis with SPSS.16 and LISREL 8.5 Findings: The analysis revealed that the five factor model was an acceptable fit for the data (93/0 AGFI=0.93, RMSEA=0.03, NFI=0.99). Conclusion: These results provide evidence to suggest that alexithymia and Type D are distinct and separate constructs. However, future research should aim to replicate these findings in population and clinical samples.