Studentų aleksitimiškumo ir sveikatai nepalankaus elgesio sąsajos

Abstract

Tyrimu siekta nustatyti studentų aleksitimiškumo ir sveikatai nepalankaus elgesio sąsajas. Tyrime dalyvavo 202 universiteto dieninių bakalauro studijų studentai: 139 studentės (68,8 %) ir 63 studentai (31,2 %). Vidutinis tiriamųjų amžius – 19,5 ± 1 metai (tiriamųjų amžius – nuo 18 iki 26 metų). Aleksitimiškumui nustatyti naudota 20-ies klausimų Toronto aleksitimijos skalė (TAS-20). Nustatytos sąsajos tarp studentų aleksitimiškumo ir sveikatai nepalankaus elgesio (netinkamos mitybos, prastos miego kokybės, rūkymo, alkoholio vartojimo). Statistiškai reikšmingi skirtumai nustatyti tik moterų grupėje

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ alexithymia and their health risk behaviour. 202 university students (139 female and 63 male) participated in the study. Mean age of participants was 19.5 ± 1 year (participants range in age from 18 to 26 years). Alexithymia among students was measured using. The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) (Beresnevaitė, 2003; Bagby et al., 2003). The results of the study showed the relationship between students’ alexithymia and their health risk behaviour (unhealthy nutrition, poor quality of sleep, smoking, alcohol consumption). Statistically significant differences were found only in the women's group. The term of alexithymia was formulated on the basis of clinical observations of patients with so-called classic psychosomatic diseases (Parker at al, 2008). The alexithymia construct encompasses the following salient features or facets: difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, externally oriented thinking (Kauhanen et al., 1992). Alexithymia is used to decribe patients with the behavioral profile of a number of different syndromes, but in itself is not a clinical disorder (Guilbaud et al, 2003). There are plenty of studies analyzing the interfaces of physical and / or mental health and alexithymia (Jula et al., 1999; Chugg et al., 2009; Pandey, Choubey, 2010; Damak et al., 2010; Declercq et al., 2010). However unambiguous opinion stating links between alexithymia and health relationship are available. One of the possible explanations – alexithymic individuals is more likely to be involved in unhealthy behaviors (Helmes, Mente, 1999). [...]