ArticlePersonality and individual differences2020
The role of alexithymia in the mental health problems of home-quarantined university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
Article in Personality and individual differences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 130 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Psychological Well-Being of University Students amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping review, systematic review and meta-analysis.Sultan Qaboos University medical journal · 2022Pooled it
- Emotion Regulation in Families: Exploring the Link between Parent-Child Alexithymia and Child Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Latent profiles of post-traumatic distress and growth in adolescents: the role of modifiable protective factors.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The Silent Burden: Understanding Alexithymia and Its Correlation With University Student Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Impact of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of university students and recommendations for the post-pandemic period: A systematic review.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Review
- The association between alexithymia and internet addiction disorder in a large sample of Chinese undergraduates: the role of sexual assault experiences.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Trajectories of COVID-19 pandemic-related depressive symptoms and potential predictors: the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Metaphors of adolescence during COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-method analysis in relation to well-being and alexithymia.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Isolating unique variance in mental health outcomes attributable to personality variables and childhood emotional abuse.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Alexithymia and Loneliness in Women with Endometriosis. Testing the Factorial Structure of the Italian Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP-30) and a Mediation Model.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2023Article
- The Relationship between Paternal Alexithymia and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Problems during Early Childhood.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Predicting and Moderating COVID-Fear and Stress among College Students in Argentina and the USA.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Psychological correlates of perceived loneliness in college students before and during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period: a longitudinal study.BMC psychology · 2023Article
- Alexithymia in adolescents in Poland: an important issue in the holistic approach to patients' care.Postepy dermatologii i alergologii · 2023Article
- Students' perspective on online learning during pandemic in higher education.Quality & quantity · 2023Article
- Social identity loss and reverse culture shock: Experiences of international students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- The path of ideological and political education in fulfilling the function of psychological nurturing.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- How does it feel? An exploration of neurobiological and clinical correlates of alexithymia in trauma-exposed police-officers with and without PTSD.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Article
- Gender differences and left-behind experiences in the relationship between gaming disorder, rumination and sleep quality among a sample of Chinese university students during the late stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Resilience mediates the association between alexithymia and stress in Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.General psychiatry · 2023Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWhile it is well known that mental health problems are common consequences of deadly pandemics, the association with alexithymia is less clear. This study examined this association in an evaluation of home-quarantined university students during the 2019/2020 COVID-19 pandemic in China.
methodsIn total, 2501 home-quarantined students from six southwest Chinese universities completed the following questionnaires: the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), and the Patients Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), after which structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analyses were employed to extract and evaluate the possible associations.
resultsIt was found that participants with probable depression or PTSD also reported more severe alexithymia features, such as difficulties in identifying feelings (DIF) or describing feelings (DDF). Alexithymia was also found to partially mediate the effect of number of exposures on mental health problems.
conclusionThese results suggested that implementing strategies to assist young people identify and deal with their own emotions and those of others could prevent or mitigate the mental health problems associated with deadly pandemic events. However, future longitudinal studies are needed to examine the specific involvement of DIF or DDF in people with mental health problems.
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