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Alexithymia is associated with adverse developmental outcomes. However, this concept has been criticized for being heavily influenced by Western norms of emotional expression and for potentially pathologizing people from different cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, the widely employed variable-centered study approaches hinder research understanding of real-world alexithymia profiles. Using a person-centered approach, the current study investigated the alexithymia profiles among Chinese college students and tested the profiles' relations with childhood adversity and COVID-19 burnout. Four latent alexithymia profiles were identified. The High I profile (particular difficulty identifying feelings) emerged as a risk profile for childhood adversity and COVID-19 burnout. Our findings illustrate the heterogeneity of the alexithymia construct and represent a significant step toward expanding cross-cultural understanding of alexithymia profiles and their associations with related psychological constructs. When dealing with childhood adversity and COVID-19 burnout, health care programs should consider a specific alexithymia profile defined by difficulty identifying feelings. • Using a person-centered study method, this study revealed four latent alexithymia profiles among Chinese college students. • The High I profile (difficulty identifying feelings) emerged as a risk profile for childhood adversity. • The High I profile was also the risk profile for COVID-19 burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the mediating effect of regulatory emotional self-efficacy and the moderating effect of meaning in life on the relationship between social anxiety and subjective well-being among Chinese college students. Nine hundred and eight Chinese students (M age = 20.14, SD = 1.71; 49% males) completed self-reported questionnaires regarding social anxiety, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, meaning in life, and subjective well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine the relation between social anxiety and subjective well-being and the moderated mediation model. The results revealed that regulatory emotional self-efficacy fully mediated the link between social anxiety and college students' subjective well-being. College students' meaning in life moderated the associations between social anxiety and college students' regulatory emotional self-efficacy and between regulatory emotional self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Particularly, the link between social anxiety and regulatory emotional self-efficacy was only significant for those with lower meaning in life. The association between regulatory emotional self-efficacy and subjective well-being was more robust for those with higher meaning in life. This study identified the critical factors associated with subjective well-being; it supplies empirical support for existing theories and provides practical implications for interventions aiming to improve Chinese college students' subjective well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]