DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALEXITHYMIA, SKIN SENSITIVITY, AND DISGUST
DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALEXITHYMIA, SKIN SENSITIVITY, AND DISGUST

Summary/Abstract: Alexithymia represents an individual’s inability to recognize their own or someone else’s emotions and also the inability to communicate them. It has a documented infuence on many cognitive and emotional activities of human life. Skin and touch are two of the primary vehicles for conveying emotions between individuals. It is on account of the connection between these elements that this study has focused on determining more precisely the relation between skin related satisfaction and disgust and alexithymia. In total 357 students participated in the survey, 286 (82.9%) were female and the average participant age was 20.54 (min=19; max=26; SD=1.24). Apart from this demographical information, the survey consisted of the Skin Satisfaction Questionnaire (TSD-Q 30), the Toronto Alexithymia Questionnaire (TAS-20), and the Disgust Propensity and Sensitivity Questionnaire (DPSS). Based on an analysis of the survey results, Alexithymia was shown to correlate strongly with the shame aspect of skin satisfaction, but only with TAS-20 factors 1 and 2. A weak correlation was demonstrated between positive disgust and alexithymia. Tough only a weak correlation, or no correlations as all, between touch satisfaction and alexithymia was established, touch satisfaction and shame accounted for 21.2% of alexithymia variance, while disgust measurement scales accounted for only 1.3%. Out of skin satisfaction parameters, alexithymia appeared to be most strongly connected with shame. Disgust parameters were shown to have a very weak infuence on alexithymia variance. Although skin is one of the primary sense organs and touch is capable of conveying emotion, there was found only a weak correlation between, and measured infuence of, satisfaction with skin and alexithymia.

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