This study investigated the relationships among alexithymia, authenticity, and verbal emotional expression within a unified model, incorporating acute stress as a contextual variable following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Türkiye. We hypothesized that verbal emotional expression would mediate the relationship between alexithymia and authenticity, and that acute stress would moderate these pathways. A total of 203 Turkish-speaking adults (54.2% female) participated. Measures included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Measure of Verbal Emotional Expression (MoVEE), the Authenticity Scale, and the National Stressful Events Survey Acute Stress Symptom Scale (NSESSS). Analyses employed correlation, parallel mediation, and moderated mediation. Correlation analyses indicated that higher acute stress was positively associated with alexithymic traits and negatively with verbal emotional expression. Parallel mediation analyses showed that the negative effect of alexithymia on the total authenticity score was partially mediated by emotional expression of anger (a₁b₁ = − 0.070) and sadness (a₂b₂ = − 0.186), both statistically significant. Direct effects remained significant, indicating partial mediation. Moderated mediation results further revealed that acute stress amplified the negative link between verbal expression and romantic love, while attenuating the association with sadness. These findings emphasize verbal emotional expression, particularly anger and sadness, as central mechanisms linking alexithymia to reduced authenticity. Acute stress shaped these processes, highlighting the vulnerability of emotional functioning under trauma. Implications are discussed for emotion-focused and dialectical behavior therapies.
Sağlam et al. (Mon,) studied this question.