安岳县人民医院

Objective To investigate the level and influencing factors of alexithymia of rural empty-nesters in Chengdu. Methods Using the method of convenient sampling, a total of 318 rural empty-nesters from 8 villages around Chengdu were enrolled and investigated by the demographic questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Scale（TAS-20）, Activities of Daily Living Scale（ADLs） and Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index（IRI-C）. One-way analysis of variance and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis were performed on the data. Results The prevalence of alexithymia in rural empty-nesters was 35.8% and the overall score of alexithymia was 55.20±7.56, which mainly performed as externally oriented thinking（EOT） and difficulty describing feelings（DDF）. Pearson correlation analysis showed that alexithymia was positively correlated with lower levels of ADL（r=0.436, P＜0.01） and negatively associated with empathy（r=-0.525, P＜0.01）. Multiple linear regression showed that the main factors influencing alexithymia in rural empty-nesters were non-spouses（β=0.122, 95%CI: 0.044-0.201）, lower frequency of contact with children（β=0.104, 95%CI: 0.027-0.181）, fewer hobbies（β=0.106, 95%CI: 0.022-0.190）, poorer sleep（β=0.140, 95%CI: 0.056-0.224）, poorer instrumental activity of daily living（β=0.216, 95%CI: 0.129-0.302）, less empathic concern（β=-0.113, 95%CI:-0.196--0.029）, higher personal distress（β=0.132, 95%CI: 0.049-0.214）, less perspective taking（β=-0.175, 95%CI:-0.268--0.081）, and fewer fantasy（β=-0.316, 95%CI:-0.403--0.229）. Factors affecting difficulty identifying feelings were non-spouses（β =0.112, 95%CI: 0.019-0.205）, fewer hobbies（β=0.124, 95%CI: 0.023-0.224）, poorer sleep（β=0.159, 95%CI: 0.054-0.263）, poorer self-rated health（β=0.120, 95%CI: 0.017-0.223）, poorer instrumental daily activity of daily living（β=0.234, 95%CI: 0.128-0.339）, less empathic concern（β=-0.145, 95%CI:-0.243--0.048）, and less perspective taking（β=-0.134, 95%CI:-0.232--0.035）. Factors affecting difficulty describing feelings were lower education（β=-0.207, 95%CI:-0.314--0.100）, poorer sleep（β=0.127, 95%CI: 0.022-0.233）, poorer instrumental activity of daily living（β=0.114, 95%CI: 0.009-0.220）, less empathic concern（β=-0.173, 95%CI:-0.275--0.072）, and fewer fantasy（β=-0.199, 95%CI:-0.308--0.089）. Factors affecting externally oriented thinking were non-spouses（β=0.134, 95%CI:0.053-0.215）, lower frequency of contact with children（β=0.132, 95%CI: 0.052-0.213）, poorer physical self-maintenance（β=0.153, 95%CI: 0.072-0.235）, higher personal distress（β=0.121, 95%CI: 0.034-0.208）, less perspective taking（β=-0.197, 95%CI:-0.293--0.102）, and fewer fantasy（β=-0.470, 95%CI:-0.560--0.381）. Conclusion The incidence of alexithymia in rural empty-nesters is high, and their own psychosomatic functions are of crucial importance to the occurrence of alexithymia. Positive cognitive style, physical exercise training, and social support should be strengthened to meet the emotional attachments of rural empty-nesters to alleviate alexithymia.