Cross-cultural validation and measurement invariance of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ): a study in Iran and the USA

Objective Alexithymia is a trait defined by difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, as well externally oriented thinking. It an important transdiagnostic risk factor for range of psychopathologies, therefore its assessment substantial interest. Recently, the Perth Questionnaire (PAQ) was developed to try enable more comprehensive assessments alexithymia. To date, no studies have examined PAQ’s psychometric properties among adolescents, few non-Western populations.Method address these gaps, here we PAQ three samples Iranian adolescents (N = 557, 53% female, Mage 14.94, SD 1.29), adults 926, 62% 32.52, 9.65) American 242, 40% 40.69, 11.91).Results Confirmatory analysis supported intended five-factor model (that distinguished between different facets alexithymia across positive negative emotions) within all samples. This invariant genders, ages cultural groups. Furthermore, subscales showed good internal consistency, test–retest reliability concurrent validity.Conclusions Overall, present findings indicate that has strong both Middle Eastern Western samples, functions similarly adolescents. The appears be useful tool comprehensively operationalising diverse populations.