Alexithymia, social skills, and communication skills in medical students: Levels and interrelationships

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Toraman Ç., Yurdal M. O., Tekin M.

Health sciences quarterly (Online), cilt.6, sa.4, ss.787-798, 2026 (TRDizin)

Özet

This study examined alexithymia, social skill, and communication skill levels among medical students and analyzed the relationships among these variables. Using a cross-sectional, correlational design, data were collected from 643 volunteer students (female: 52.4%; male: 42.6%; prefer not to state: 5.0%) enrolled at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Medicine during the 2025–2026 academic year. Data collection instruments were the Social Skills Inventory–Short Form (SSI-SF), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Health Professionals Communication Skills Scale (HP-CSS). The independent associations of social skill and alexithymia levels with communication skills were examined using multiple regression analysis, with gender and academic year included as covariates. Students scored at a moderate level on all three scales. Social skill level was positively associated with communication skills (B = 0.87; p<0.001; R² = .26), whereas alexithymia level, gender, and academic year were not significantly associated with communication skills. The findings support evaluating structured social skill training as part of communication education and testing its effectiveness in prospective, multicenter studies.