The current study explored the relationship between alexithymia and impulsivity, taking into account possible sex differences in alexithymia and controlling for the effects of depression and dissociation. Rather than focusing upon a particular impulsive behavior, e.g., emotional overeating, the current study examined trait impulsivity. Participants included 150 students at a large metropolitan university (61 males and 89 females, aged 18 to 34 years, M = 21.19, SD = 3.63) who completed several self-report questionnaires, including the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Participants also completed a computerized version of the Matching Familiar Figures Task (MFFT). Total alexithymia was positively related to impulsiveness as measured by the BIS-11. However, only externally oriented thinking was related to impulsivity as assessed by the MFFT. Dissociation was positively associated with total alexithymia, as well as with difficulty identifying feelings and difficulty describing feelings, but not with externally oriented thinking. Dissociation was also positively associated with impulsivity as measured by the BIS-11, but not the MFFT. Depression was positively related with total alexithymia, including difficulties identifying and describing feelings, but not with externally oriented thinking. In the current study's sample, women endorsed greater depressive symptom severity than men. No significant differences between men and women were found for total alexithymia, difficulty identifying feelings, or difficulty describing feelings. However, men reported more externally oriented thinking than women. Controlling for the effect of depression, men also endorsed greater total alexithymia and difficulty identifying feelings than women. Sex was not found to moderate the relationship between impulsivity, as measured by the BIS-1 1, and total alexithymia or difficulty identifying feelings. However, more difficulty describing feelings was specifically associated with more impulsivity in men than in women, suggesting that certain alexithymic characteristics are more strongly involved in impulsivity in men than they are in women.

Keywords: Alexithymia, Impulsivity, Depression, Dissociation, Sex