Cross-Cultural Comparison of Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation Strategies

Thesis Abstract

Cross-cultural Variation in Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation A cross-national comparative study examines how individuals from distinct cultural backgrounds experience alexithymia and employ emotion regulation strategies, addressing a gap in understanding the cultural boundaries of affective processing. The study aims to (1) compare levels of alexithymia across three culturally diverse populations and (2) identify culturally contingent emotion regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and their associations with alexithymia. Specific objectives include assessing the contributions of gender, age, and acculturation to alexithymia scores, evaluating the mediating role of emotion regulation between culture and psychosocial outcomes, and testing theoretical predictions derived from the Gross Process Model of Emotion Regulation and the Teleological Theory of Culture and Emotion. The research adopts a cross-sectional, correlational design conducted across three countries representing contrasting cultural contexts a Western individualistic society (Country A), an East Asian collectivist society (Country B), and a Latin American collectivist society with high-context communication (Country C). The population comprises adults aged 18–65 residing in urban and semi-urban areas. A stratified multistage sampling approach will yield a total sample size of 1,200 participants (approximately 400 per country), with proportional representation of gender and age strata to enable robust cross-cultural comparisons. Data collection will utilize well-validated instruments the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) to measure alexithymia, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to assess cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to gauge psychosocial stress. Supplemental measures include the Self-Construal Scale to quantify independence-interdependence dimensions and the Acculturation Rating Scale to capture exposure to host culture in minority participants. The study will also collect socio-demographic data and contextual variables such as urbanicity and exposure to emotional discourse in daily life. Reliability analyses will ensure internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha > .70) across all instruments within each cultural group. Data will be analyzed using a multi-stage analytic framework (1) descriptive statistics and measurement invariance testing across groups to ensure comparability of TAS-20 and ERQ scores; (2) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine cross-cultural differences in alexithymia and emotion regulation strategies; (3) hierarchical multiple regression to test the predictive contributions of culture, emotion regulation, and acculturation on alexithymia; (4) structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate a mediation model in which emotion regulation mediates the relationship between culture and psychosocial outcomes, controlling for age, gender, and education; and (5) moderation analyses to explore whether gender and acculturation modulate the culture–emotion regulation–alexithymia pathways. Anticipated findings include higher alexithymia scores in East Asian and Latin American samples relative to the Western sample, with differential use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression shaping these differences. It is expected that expressive suppression will be positively associated with alexithymia, whereas cognitive reappraisal will be negatively associated, with stronger effects in collectivist cultures. The study is expected to reveal that emotion regulation partially mediates the effect of culture on psychosocial stress and well-being indicators, with acculturation intensifying or buffering these relationships depending on the host culture context. Theoretically, the research will contribute to the cross-cultural validation of the Gross Process Model of Emotion Regulation and extend the Teleology of Culture and Emotion framework by elucidating culture-specific patterns of affective awareness and expression. Practically, the findings will inform culturally tailored mental health assessment and intervention strategies that address alexithymia-related barriers to emotional insight and therapeutic engagement across diverse populations. Potential limitations include cross-sectional design constraints for causal inference, measurement non-equivalence concerns despite invariance testing, and differential response styles across cultures. Recommendations for practice emphasize culturally sensitive assessment protocols, training for clinicians in emotion-focused interventions that account for regulation style, and policy-level guidance to incorporate cultural modifiers of emotional processing into public health programs. Future research could pursue longitudinal designs to examine developmental trajectories of alexithymia and emotion regulation and expand sampling to additional cultural contexts to enhance generalizability.