The Relationship between Alexithymia and Attachment Styles among University Students

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the relationship between Alexithymia (Alex) and attachment styles, gender, family
size, parent's level of education among a randomly selected sample of (392)undergraduate students (136 male, 256
female), at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University. To achieve the objectives of this study, the twenty-item Toronto
Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), which was standardized by Dawoud (2016) and Yarmouk Attachment Scale developed
by Abu Ghazal and Jaradat (2009) were applied, after verifying their validity and reliability. The results of the study
revealed a significant negative correlations between Alex and secure attachment, while the correlations between Alex
and avoidant attachment, and anxious-ambivalent attachment styles were positively significant. Also, there was
significant positive correlation between Alex with gender and family size. Finally; no significant correlations were
found between Alex with parent’s education.