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                                    Chapter 5138Alexithymia. With the 20 item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS20; Bagby et al., 1994), we assessed alexithymia in our sample. Each item of the TAS-20 is rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), with five items being reversely coded. The items can be summarized on three subscales (%u201cDifficulty identifying feelings%u201d, %u201cDifficulty describing feelings%u201d, %u201cExternally-oriented thinking%u201d) as well as summed to a total score, with a higher score higher alexithymic trait levels. Total scores were higher than 61 for 10 participants (10%), indicating alexithymia (see Table 1).Social anxiety traits. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS; Liebowitz, 1987) was used to assess self-reported social anxiety traits. Respondents rate their fear and avoidance in 24 social interaction and performance separately on 4-point Likert scales (fear: 1 = None, 2 = Mild, 3 = Moderate, 4 = Severe; avoidance: 1 = Never, 2 = Occasionally, 3 = Often, 4 = Usually). In our sample, 65 participants (66 %) exceeded the theoretical cut-off of 30 which indicates a probability of social anxiety disorder, with 26 participants (26%) scoring high (above 60) on this scale (see Table 1).Body appreciation. As part of a Master thesis project, participants also completed the updated version of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2; Tylka & WoodBarcalow, 2015). The results were not of interest to answer the research question of this article and are therefore not reported. Table 1. Distribution of Questionnaires Scores, Including their Internal Consistency (Cronbach%u2019s Alpha) and Distribution Parameters, in the Online Study (Experiment 1) N Mean SD Min Max %u03b1 lCL hCL kurtosis skewnessAQ 99 17.05 6.59 3 34 0.79 0.73 0.85 2.89 0.37IAS 99 79.80 9.25 51 100 0.82 0.77 0.87 2.97 -0.20BPQ 99 72.48 25.16 26 126 0.96 0.95 0.97 2.00 0.15LSAS 99 44.00 23.88 0 117 0.96 0.94 0.97 3.09 0.71TAS 99 45.22 11.28 24 73 0.85 0.81 0.89 2.23 0.34Note. AQ = Autism Quotient (Autistic traits), IAS = Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (Trait interoceptive accuracy), BPQ = Body Perception Questionnaire (Interoceptive sensibility), LSAS = Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Social anxiety traits), TAS = Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Alexithymia), lCL/hCL = lower/higher Confidence Level of 95% Confidence Interval associated with %u03b1.
                                
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