Objective: We studied the association between alexithymia in adulthood and social situation of the child's family at the time of the child's birth.
Methods: The study forms part of the prospective Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Project. The original material consisted of all 12,058 live-born children in the provinces of Lapland and Oulu in Finland with an expected delivery date during 1966. The material represents 96% of all births in the region. In 1997 a 31-year follow-up study was made on part of the initial sample. The 20-item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was given to 5983 participants of the field study. Of them, 85% returned the questionnaire properly completed. Factors indicative of the social situation of the child's family were already gathered during pregnancy and the time of birth from the mothers, thus eliminating recall bias.
Results: Alexithymia was more common in subjects from rural than urban dwelling areas. Unwanted children or subjects born into families with many children also exhibited an association with alexithymia in adulthood.
Conclusions: Maternal social situation and environment predict alexithymia in the offspring.