Examination of The Relationship Between University Students' Alexithymia Symptoms, Personality Types and Internet Use Behaviors

Year 2023, Volume: 12 Issue: 4, 659 - 672, 10.10.2023

Özlem Şener , Süleyman Kahraman

https://doi.org/10.14686/buefad.1196425

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to examine the relationship between university students' alexithymia symptoms, personality traits and internet use attitudes. The predictive power of personality types and internet use behaviors on alexithymia levels was examined. In addition, differences in the scores of alexithymia and personality types according to various demographic variables were examined. The study group consisted of 322 undergraduate students studying in four different universities in Istanbul. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Eysenck Personality Brief Scale were used to collect data. According to the results obtained from the study, there was a significant relationship between alexithymia scores and personality types, while neuroticism and extraversion were found to have significant predictive power on alexithymia scores. The findings were discussed within the framework of the literature and various suggestions were presented.

Keywords

alexithymia, personality types, university students internet use attitudes

References

• Akın İ. (2014). Relationship of problematic internet use with alexithymia, emotion regulation and impulsivity. Bahçeşehir University, Institute of Social Sciences, Clinical Psychology Master Thesis, Istanbul.
• Bacanlı, H., Ilhan T. ve Aslan S. (2009). Beş Faktör Kuramına dayalı bir kişilik ölçeğinin geliştirilmesi: Sıfatlara dayalı kişilik testi (sdkt), Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 7(2): 261-279.
• Baskak B, Cevik A. (2007). Somatizasyonun kültürel boyutları. Psychiatry in Türkiye, 9: 50-57.
• Batıgün, A., & Büyükşahin, A. (2008). Aleksitimi: Psikolojik belirtiler ve bağlanma stilleri. Klinik Psikiyatri. 11: 105-114.
• Baymur, F., (1978). Genel Psikoloji, İstanbul: İnkilap ve Anka Basımevi.
• Besharat, M. A. (2010). Relationship of alexthymia with coping styles and interpersonal problems. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5: 614-618.
• Cameron K. Ogrodniczuk J. and Hadjipavlou G. (2014). Changes in Alexithymia Following Psychological Intervention: A Review, Harward Rewiev Psychiyatry, 22(3): 162-78.
• Carpenter, K.M., & Addis, M.E. (2000). Alexithymia, gender, and responses to depressive symptoms. Sex Roles, 43(9-10): 629-644.
• Coolidge, E.D., Estey, A.J., Segeal, D.L.& Marle, P.D. (2013). Are alexithymia and schizoid personality disorder synonymous diagnoses? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 54(2): 141-148.
• Cooper, E.D., Holmstrom, R.W. (1984). Relation Ship Between Alexithymia and Somatic Complaints in Normal Sample, Psychother Psychosom, 41: 20-24.
• Craparo, G. (2011). Internet addiction, dissociation, and alexithymia. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30: 1051-1056.
• Cüceloğlu, D. (1993). İnsan ve Davranışı, Remzi Kitabevi, İstanbul.
• Dalbudak, E., Evren, C., Aldemir, S., Coşkun, K. S., Uğurlu, H. ve Yıldırım, F. G. (2013). Relationship of Internet addiction severity with depression, anxiety, and alexithymia, temperament and character in university students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16: 272- 278.
• Demet, M.M., Deveci, A., Özmen, E., Şen, S.F., & İçelli, İ. (2002). Majör depresif bozukluk tanısı alan hastalarda aleksitimi belirti örüntüsü üzerine etkisi (The effect of alexithymia on symptom pattern in patients diagnosed with major depression disorder). Nöropsikiyatri Arşivi, 39(1,2,3,4): 67-74.
• Dökmen, Ü. (2000). Yarına Kim Klacak? Evrenle Uyumlaşma Sürecinde Varolmak, Gelişmek, Uzlaşmak (Who will Stay Tomorrow? Existing, Developing, Compromising in the Process of Harmonization with the Universe). Istanbul: Sistem Yayıncılık.
• Dursun, E. (2018). Gebelerin Kişilik Özellikleri ve Kaygı Düzeyleri ile Doğum Korkuları Arasındaki İlişki (The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Anxiety Levels of Pregnants and Birth Fears). Unpublished Master Thesis, Department of Nursing, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University: Nevşehir.
• Eysenck H.J., Eysenck S.B. (1975). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (adult and junior). Hodder & Stoughton, London.
• Francis, L. L., Brown, L. B., Philipchalk, R. (1992). The development of an abbreviated form of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-A): Its use among students in England, Canada, the U. S. A. And Australia. Personality and Individual Difference, 13(4): 443-449.
• Fukunishi, I., Berger, D., Wogan, J. ve Kuboki, T. (1999). Alex- ithymic traits as predictors of dif culties with adjustment in an outpatient cohort of expatriates in Tokyo. Psycho- logical Reports, 85: 67-77.
• İzci, F. (2016). Epilepsi Hastalarında aleksitimi ve mizaç ve karakter özellikleri (Alexithymia and temperament and character traits in Epilepsy Patients). Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 8(1): 64-75. doi: 10.18863/pgy.28094
• Karancı, N., Dirik, G., Yorulmaz, O. (2007). Eysenck kişilik anketi-gözden geçirilmiş kısaltılmış formunun (EKA-GGK) Türkiye’de geçerlik ve güvenilirlik çalışması (Validity and reliability study of Eysenck personality questionnaire-revised abbreviated form (ECA-GGK) in Turkey). Türk Psikiyatri Dergisi. 18(3): 1-8.
• Kaya, İ. (2003). Çocuk, Ergen ve Anne Baba. (Yayına Hazırlayan Gül Şendil), İstanbul, Çantay Yayınları.
• Kraut, S., Kiesler, B. ve Boneva, J. (2002). Cummings J, Helgeson V, Crawford, An Internet paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 58: 49-74.
• Krystal, H. (1979) Alexithymia and psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 33: 17-31. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1979.33.1.17 (Erişim tarihi:03.08.2021).
• Koçak, R. (2002) Aleksitimi: Kuramsal çerçeve tedavi yaklaşımları ve ilgili araştırmalar (Alexithymia: Theoretical framework treatment approaches and related research). Ankara Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Fakültesi Dergisi, 35(1): 83-212.
• Lesser IM (1981) A review of the alexithymia concept. Psychosom Med, 43: 531-543.
• Li, R., Kajanoja, J., Tuulari, J., Karlsson, L., Karlsson, H., Karukivi, M. (2023). Relationships between alexithymia and food addiction: the Finnish version of yale food addiction scale and preliminary test of its psychometric properties. Front. Psychol., (14). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1067872
• McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T. (1989). Reinterpreting the Myers-Briggs type indicator from the perspective of the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality, 57, 17-40.
• McKenna, K. ve Bargh, J. (2000). Plan 9 from cyberspace: The implications of the internet for personality and social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4: 57-75.
• Muller, R. J. (2000). When A Patient Has No Story to Tell: Alexithymia. Psychiatric Times, 17(7): 137-141.
• Nayok, S., Sreeraj, V., Shivakumar, V., & Venkatasubramanian, G. (2023). A primer on interoception and its importance in psychiatry. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci, 2(21), 252-261. https://doi.org/10.9758/cpn.2023.21.2.252
• Özen S, Topcu M. (2017). The relationship of smartphone addiction with depression, obsession‐compulsion, impulsivity, alexithymia among medical faculty students. J Depend. 18(1): 16‐24. https:// dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article‐file/351150
• Parker, J. D. A., Wood, L. M., Bond, B. J. & Shaughnessy, P. (2005). Alexithymia in young adulthood: A risk factor for pathological gambling. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 74: 51-55.
• Parker, J. D. A., Keefer, K. V., Taylor, G. J., & Bagby, R. M. (2008). Latent structure of the alexithymia construct: a taxometric ınvestigation. American Psychological Association, 20(4): 385–396.
• Pennebaker, J.W. (1989). Confession, inhibition, and disease. L. Berkowitz, (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology into 221-244. New-York: Academic Press.
• Reid, R. C., Carpenter, B. N., Spackman, M. & Willes, D. L. (2008). Alexithymia, emotional instability, and vulnerability to stress proneness in patients seeking help for hypersexual behavior. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 34: 133-149.
• Sayar, K., Bilen, A., & Arıkan, M. (2001), Kronik ağrı hastalarında öfke, benlik saygısı ve aleksitimi. Klinik Psikiyatri, 2(1), 36-42.
• Şener Ö., & Köseoğlu S. A. (2020). Aleksitimi belirtileri olan üniversite öğrencilerinin duygu ifadeleri ve spontanlıkları üzerine psikodramanın etkisi (The effect of psychodrama on the emotional expressions and spontaneity of university students with alexithymia symptoms). Yükseköğretim ve Bilim Dergisi/Journal of Higher Education and Science, 10(2): 318-327. https://doi.org/10.5961/jhes.2020.393
• Şahin, A. R. (1991). Peptik ülser ve aleksitimi (Peptic ulcer and alexithymia). Türk Psikiyatri Dergisi, 2(3): 25-30.
• Şaşıoğlu, M., Gülol, Ç., & Tosun, A. (2014). Aleksitimi: Tedavi girişimleri (Alexithymia: Treatment interventions). Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 6(1), 22-31.
• Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., Ryan, D. P., Parker, J. D., Doody, K. F., & Keefe, P. (1988). Criterion validity of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50(5), 500-509.
• Taylor, G. J., Michael Bagby, R., & Parker, J. D. A. (1991). The alexithymia construct: A potential paradigm for psychosomatic medicine. Psychosomatics, 32(2): 153–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-3182(91)72086-0
• Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (2016). What’s in the name ‘alexithymia’? A commentary on “affective agnosia: Expansion of the alexithymia construct and a new opportunity to integrate and extend Freud’s legacy.”. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 68, 1006–1020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.025
• Tsai, H. F., Cheng, S. H., Yeh, T. L., Shin, C-C., Chen, K. C, Yang, Y. C. ve ark. (2009). The risks factors of Internet addiction-A survey of university freshmen. Psychiatry Research, 167: 294-299.
• Scimeca, G., Bruno, A., Cava, L., Pandolfo, G., Muscatello, M. R. A. ve Zoccali, R. (2014). The relationship between alexithymia, anxiety, depression, and Internet addiction severity in a sample of Italian high school students. The Scientific World Journal, http://dx.doi. org/10.1155/2014/504376 (Date of access: 03.08.2021).
• Sifneos P.E., Apfel SR, & Frankel FH (1977) The phenomenon of alexithymia. Psychother Psychosom, 28: 47-57.
• Spitzer, C., Siebel-Jürges, U., Barnow, S., Grabe, H. J. ve Frey- berger, H. J. (2005). Alexithymia and interpersonal prob- lems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 74: 240-246.
• Swiller HI. (1988). Alexithymia: treatment utilizing combined individual and group psychotherapy. Int J Group Psychother, 38:47–61.
• Taylor G.J., Bagby RM, Parker J.D. (1991) Alexithymia construct, a potential paradigm for psychosomatic medicine. Psychosom Med, 32, 153-163.
• Taylor GJ, Bagby RM, & Parker JDA. (1997). Disorders of affect regulation. Cambridge7 Cambridge University Press.
• Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (2016). What’s in the name ‘alexithymia’? A commentary on “affective agnosia: Expansion of the alexithymia construct and a new opportunity to integrate and extend Freud’s legacy.”. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 68: 1006–1020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.025
• Taylor GJ. (2000). Recent developments in alexithymia theory and research. Can J Psychiatry, 45:134-142.
• Vanheule, S., Vandenbergen, J., Verhaeghe, P.& Desmet, M. (2010). Interpersonal problems in alexithymia: A study in three primary care groups. Psychology and Psychothera- py: Theory, Research and Practice, 83, 351-362.
• Young, K. & Rodgers, R. C. (1998). Internet addiction: Personality traits associated with its development. Paper presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association.
• Zackheim, L. (2007). Alexithymia: The expanding realm of research. J Psychosom Res, 63, 345-347.
• Zimmermann, G., Rossier, J., Meyer de Stadelhofen, F., & Gaillard, F. (2005). Alexithymia assessment and relations with dimensions of personality. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21(1): 23.