Is Interoception Deficit Linking Alexithymia and Eating Spectrum Symptoms? Study on a Non-Clinical Sample of Young Adults.

We investigated if interoceptive deficits could be the link between alexithymic traits and eating spectrum manifestations in a non-clinical sample. One-hundred sixty-one young adults (mean age: 23.2 ± 2.4 years) were evaluated with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (IAS), the Interoceptive Confusion Questionnaire (ICQ), and the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26). Questionnaires were administered with an online procedure (Microsoft Form, Office 365 A1, Pisa, Italy) (Study Protocol #0012005/2023). We compared ICQ, IAS, and TAS-20 scores in subjects who met the threshold for a potential eating spectrum disorder according to EAT-26 scores ≥ 20 (