Objectives. The aim of the present study was to adapt the English self-report questionnaire Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) to Slovak conditions, as well as to evaluate its reliability and to investigate its 3-factor structure reported by the authors. TAS-20 is used to measure the construct of alexithymia and its 3 components identified by the authors (i.e. difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings and externally-oriented thinking). Subjects and setting. After having done a back- translation in cooperation with the author of I AS-20, its reliability and factor validity was evaluated within the sample of 242 university female students. Statistical analysis. The structure of TAS-20 c|uestionnaire was examined via confirmatory factor analysis (maximum likelihood procedure). Cronbach coefficients alpha were calculated to assess internal consistency aspect of reliability of the TAS-20 scale and its subscales. Results. It has been shown that TAS-20 represents a reliable measurement instrument. Although the results of CFA supported the 3-factor structure of the Slovak version of TAS-20 they indicated the appropriateness/ plausibility of its alternative 4-factor solution as well. Study limitation, (a) measurement of alexithymia is self-reported; (b) the findings are limited to a sample of university female students., Veronika Látalová, Ľubor Pilárik., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
V roce 2009 patřil dotazník SPARO k nejpoužívanějším metodám psychologické diagnostiky v ČR (Urbánek, 2010), a to zejména mezi psychology působícími v personalistice, vězeňství, policii a armádě. Empirické důkazy jeho validity a reliability ovšem chybějí. S využitím rozsáhlého vzorku policistů a uchazečů o práci u policie jsme proto ověřili reliabilitu a faktorovou validitu dotazníku. Výsledky ukazují, že vnitřní konzistence je neuspokojivá u zhruba poloviny škál, jednotlivé škály navíc nejsou jednodimenzionální. Faktorová validita je problematická zejména u hlavních komponent dotazníku, které spolu oproti předpokladům silně korelují. Tyto korelace navíc byly přítomny i v původních standardizačních vzorcích, protože se neliší námi pozorované a originální korelační matice. Faktorová struktura dvou „obecnějších faktorů“ je komplikovaná, nelze v rozporu s teorií identifikovat dvě nezávislé latentní proměnné. Výsledky nepodporují využití dotazníku v běžné praxi. Za tímto účelem by bylo nezbytné prokázat prediktivní validitu jednotlivých škál dotazníku; souběžnou validitu ověřujeme v další studii (Cígler & Rudá, 2021). and In 2009, the SPARO questionnaire was one of the most used assessment methods in the Czech Republic (Urbánek, 2010), especially between psychologists in human resources, prisons, police, or the army. However, empirical evidence of its reliability and validity is missing. Using a significant sample of police officers and applicants to police, we researched the questionnaire's reliability and factor validity. About half of the scales do not have adequate internal consistency; the majority of them are not unidimensional. Factor validity is questionable, especially in the main components of the questionnaire, which are highly correlated. These correlations were also present in the original standardized samples as our and original correlation matrices do not differ. The factor structure of the two general factors items is not clear and two-dimensional. Our results do not support the use of the questionnaire in practice. It is necessary to confirm its’ predictive validity; the criterion validity is evaluated in our follow up study (Cígler & Rudá, 2021).