Development of Korean Version of Alexithymia Scale : Reliability and Validity of SSPS (Schalling-Sifneos Personality Scale) and TAS(Toronto Alexithymia Scale)

한국어판 Alexithymia 척도의 개발에 관한 연구 - SSPS(Schalling-Sifneos Personality Scale)와 TAS(Toronto Alexithymia Scale)의 신뢰도와 타당도 -

This paper describes the development of Korean version of two widely used self-report measure of alexithymia-Schalling-Sifneos Personality Scale (SSPS) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS), and present the preliminary results of their reliability and validity tested to an Korean college student sample(N=206). TAS showed moderate to acceptable internal consistancy with 0.26 of mean item-total correlation and 0.754 of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, while those parameters for SSPS turned out inconsistent. However, results of test-retest reliability for both scale were excellent. Factor analysis revealed tow factors for TAS and three factors for SSPS ; the four-factor structure of TAS was quite congruent with previously known alexithymaia construct, while, again, SSPS showed intermixed factor structure. TAS scores correlated fairly well with somatization scores enough to get concurrent validity while SSPS scores did not. Overall, Korean version of TAS demonstrated well matched findings in terms of internal consistency and factorial validity with original and Spanish version of TAS. The results suggest that Korean version of TAS could be a useful and reliable tool for the measurement in Korean population.