Alexithymia in relation to parental alcoholism, everyday frontal lobe functioning and alcohol consumption in a non-clinical sample Michael Lyvers a, ⁎, Roy Onuoha a , Fred Arne Thorberg b, c , Christina Samios a a Department of Psychology, Bond University Gold Coast, Qld, 4229 Australia b Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld, 4059 Australia c Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, Faculty of Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, 4072 Australia abstract article info Keywords: Alcohol Alexithymia Frontal lobe Background: Recent studies have indicated that 45–67% of those in treatment for alcohol use disorders suffer from alexithymia, a multifaceted personality trait characterized by difficulties identifying and describing emotions and an externally oriented cognitive style. The high reported prevalence rates of alexithymia among those with alcohol dependence led to speculation that alexithymia is a personality dimension that may predispose to risky or problematic alcohol use. Methods: This notion was examined in 314 adult volunteers (54% female) aged 18–45 years (M= 27.6 years), all of whom reported at least occasional alcohol consumption, who completed online surveys assessing alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, or TAS-20), parental alcoholism (Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, or CAST), ev- eryday signs of frontal lobe dysfunction (Frontal Systems Behavior Scale, or FrSBe) and risky alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, or AUDIT). Results: TAS-20 scores were positively correlated with the index of parental alcoholism CAST, index of frontal lobe dysfunction FrSBe and measure of alcohol-related problems AUDIT. Chi-square test showed an association be- tween TAS-20-defined alexithymia and being the offspring of an alcoholic parent as defined by CAST. Regression analysis showed that frontal lobe dysfunction (FrSBe) mediated the relationship between alexithymia (TAS-20 total score) and risky alcohol use (AUDIT). Conclusions: The findings suggest that alexithymia is related to deficiencies in frontal lobe functioning that may reflect a heritable predisposition to alcohol problems. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Alcohol use disorders are the most common substance use disor- ders in the world (Lowinson, Ruiz, Millman, & Langrod, 2005). One in every eight adults (some 2 million people) or about 13% of the popula- tion drinks alcohol at risky levels in Australia (ABS, 2006) and approx- imately 3000 Australians lose their life each year as a result of alcohol misuse (Chrikritzhs et al., 1999). The social costs of alcohol misuse in Australia have been estimated at about $15.3 billion dollars each year (Collins & Lapsley, 2008). An essential task for research is thus to iden- tify potential risk factors for developing an alcohol use disorder. Alexithymia may be one such risk factor. Alexithymia refers to diffi- culties in identifying, describing and differentiating feelings and somat- ic sensations, having a constricted imaginal style and an externally oriented thinking style (Nemiah, Freyberger, & Sifneos, 1976). Preva- lence rates of alexithymia have been estimated to be 5–13% in the general population (Franz et al., 2008; Mattila, Salminen, Nummi, & Joukamaa, 2006). There is some evidence for genetic factors in the etiology of alexithymia (Jorgensen, Zachariae, Skytthe, & Kyvik, 2007) as well as poor childhood attachment and adverse childhood experiences including poor maternal care, abuse and family pathol- ogy (see Thorberg, Young, Sullivan, & Lyvers, 2011). Alexithymia has also been reported following traumatic brain injury (Becerra, Amos, & Jongenelis, 2002; Williams & Wood, 2010) and has been positively associated with anxiety, mood and psychosomatic disorders (Gawin, Glaros, & Lumley, 2005; Grabe et al., 2006; Honkalampi et al., 2007) as well as somatoform complaints (Lumley, Beyer, & Radcliffe, 2008; Wearden, Lamberton, Crook, & Walsh, 2005). Alex- ithymia appears to be strongly associated with problematic alcohol use as well as alcohol dependence (Kauhanen, Julkunen, & Salonen, 1992; Thorberg, Young, Sullivan, & Lyvers, 2009, 2011), with 45–67% of alcoholics in treatment reportedly being characterized as alexithy- mic (Thorberg et al., 2009). Recent research among alcohol dependent individuals (Thorberg, Young, Sullivan, & Lyvers, 2011; Thorberg, Young, Sullivan, Lyvers, Connor & Feeney, 2011; Thorberg, Young, Sullivan, Lyvers, Hurst, Connor et al., 2011; Thorberg et al., 2009, 2010) has shown that Addictive Behaviors 37 (2012) 205–210 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 61 75 595 2565; fax: + 61 75 595 2540. E-mail address: mlyvers@bond.edu.au (M. Lyvers). 0306-4603/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.10.012 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Addictive Behaviors