(PS3-24) Perceived Threat of Sadness, Alexithymia, and Depression in College Students

Depression is prevalent among college students and can often be severe (Kumaraswamy, 2013). Two potential mechanisms of depression have been identified (Cookson et al., 2017; Hemming et al., 2019): alexithymia, the inability to identify and describe one’s emotions (Sifneos, 1972), and experiential avoidance (EA), the suppression of unwanted internal experiences (Hayes et al., 1996). Though evidence demonstrates that how one responds to their emotions is related to depression, it remains unclear if (and how) negative beliefs about emotions are related to depression. This study investigated relationships among alexithymia, experiential avoidance, perceived threat of emotions, and depression. Undergraduate students (n = 122) completed questionnaires assessing depression (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Questionnaire; Bagby et al., 1994), the distress aversion subscale of the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (Gámez et al., 2011), and perceived emotion threat (Perception of Threat from Emotion Questionnaire; McCubbin & Sampson, 2006). Analyses used SPSS version 27 and Process version 4.1 (Hayes, 2022). Initial correlations found significant, positive correlations between alexithymia and EA, alexithymia and depression, alexithymia and perceived sadness threat, EA and depression, and sadness threat and depression. A serial-mediator model found a significant indirect effect of sadness threat on depression through alexithymia, but not through EA. A significant limitation of this study is its cross-sectional design. Future research should replicate these findings in a longitudinal model to determine whether negative beliefs about emotions, particularly sadness, represent a potential target in the treatment of depression.