MEDIATING ROLE OF ALEXITHYMIA IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEMANDING PARENTING AND DEATH ANXIETY IN ADULTS WITH PHOBIA

Abstract

This study investigates the intermediate influence of emotion capacity identification deficits on the link between demanding parenting beliefs and death anxiety in adults with phobias. The researchers employed a correlation design with 250 participants who had different specific phobia diagnoses. In addition to their diagnosis, participants responded to three standardized self-report instruments: the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), and the Schema Mode Inventory (SMI). Pearson correlation methods evaluated the main study variables, while mediation analysis determined the indirect path from alexithymia to demand patterns from parents and death anxiety. Research demonstrated strong correlations as participants exhibiting heightened levels of alexithymia showed greater degrees of death anxiety. Alexithymia acted as a partial mediator of the relationship between demanding parental behaviors and death anxiety because it produced a statistically significant intermediate effect. The research indicates that early parental demands produce existential fear in phobic patients by using emotional processing deficiencies, particularly alexithymia. The research demonstrates that adult phobia patients experience elevated death anxiety because alexithymia acts as a bridge between demanding childhood parenting and intensified death concerns. Early relational experiences generate vulnerability to existential fear through the mechanism of emotional awareness deficits, in which adults with phobias demonstrate a partial mediation effect. Early parental dynamics, together with emotion-based interventions, are crucial elements for evaluating and treating phobic disorders based on these research findings.