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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Alexithymia And Drinking In Young Adults: The Role Of Alcohol-Related Intrusive Thoughts, Michael Lyvers, Olena Lysychka, Fred Thorberg
Alexithymia And Drinking In Young Adults: The Role Of Alcohol-Related Intrusive Thoughts, Michael Lyvers, Olena Lysychka, Fred Thorberg
Mike Lyvers
Alexithymia refers to difficulties identifying and describing emotions, an externalised thinking style and a lack of imagination. Alexithymia has been linked to heavier drinking in community samples and is strongly associated with alcohol use disorders. Among patients undergoing treatment for alcohol dependence, alexithymia is associated with more intrusive thoughts about drinking. The present research asked whether this may also be the case in a non-clinical sample of social drinkers and whether such intrusive thoughts mediate the relationship between alexithymia and drinking. Participants were 113 university undergraduates aged 18–30 years who completed self-report indices of alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, or TAS-20), …
Caffeine Use And Alexithymia In University Students, Michael Lyvers, Natalija Duric, Fred Thorberg
Caffeine Use And Alexithymia In University Students, Michael Lyvers, Natalija Duric, Fred Thorberg
Mike Lyvers
Alexithymia refers to difficulties with identifying, describing, and regulating one’s own emotions. This trait dimension has been linked to risky or harmful use of alcohol and illicit drugs; however, the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world, caffeine, has not been examined previously in relation to alexithymia. The present study assessed 106 male and female university students aged 18-30 years on their caffeine use in relation to several traits, including alexithymia. The 18 participants defined as alexithymic based on their Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) scores reported consuming nearly twice as much caffeine per day as did non-alexithymic or borderline …
Cognitive Trait Anxiety, Situational Stress, And Mental Effort Predict Shifting Efficiency: Implications For Attentional Control Theory, Elizabeth Edwards, Mark Edwards, Michael Lyvers
Cognitive Trait Anxiety, Situational Stress, And Mental Effort Predict Shifting Efficiency: Implications For Attentional Control Theory, Elizabeth Edwards, Mark Edwards, Michael Lyvers
Mike Lyvers
Attentional control theory (ACT) predicts that trait anxiety and situational stress interact to impair performance on tasks that involve attentional shifting. The theory suggests that anxious individuals recruit additional effort to prevent shortfalls in performance effectiveness (accuracy), with deficits becoming evident in processing efficiency (the relationship between accuracy and time taken to perform the task). These assumptions, however, have not been systematically tested. The relationship between cognitive trait anxiety, situational stress, and mental effort in a shifting task (Wisconsin Card Sorting Task) was investigated in 90 participants. Cognitive trait anxiety was operationalized using questionnaire scores, situational stress was manipulated through …
Alexithymia And Alcohol: The Roles Of Punishment Sensitivity And Drinking Motives, Michael Lyvers, Penelope Hasking, Bonnie Albrecht, Fred Thorberg
Alexithymia And Alcohol: The Roles Of Punishment Sensitivity And Drinking Motives, Michael Lyvers, Penelope Hasking, Bonnie Albrecht, Fred Thorberg
Mike Lyvers
Alexithymia refers to difficulties identifying and describing feelings. It is suspected of being a risk factor for problematic drinking, an idea examined by this study. In 178 women and 84 men alexithymia was associated with male gender, coping motives for drinking and sensitivity to punishment. Individuals with alexithymia reported stronger coping motives and sensitivity to punishment compared to those with borderline or no alexithymia. Path analysis indicated that the relationship between the alexithymia dimension difficulties identifying feelings and coping motives was mediated by sensitivity to punishment, and the relationship between sensitivity to punishment and risky drinking was mediated by coping …