{
  "abstract": "Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are increasingly understood as chronic pain conditions in which biological susceptibility and psychosocial factors interact. Alexithymia, a personality trait characterized by difficulty identifying and describing feelings, has been linked to chronic pain; however, its relationship with self-reported TMD symptoms, perceived stress, and sleep problems in non-clinical young adults remains insufficiently explored. Objective: To examine the associations of self-reported TMD symptom severity with sleep problems, perceived stress, and alexithymia in young adults. Methods: In this cross-sectional online survey, 634 participants aged 18–40 years (74.3% female) completed the Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI), the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), and the Jenkins Sleep Scale (JSS). Group comparisons, Spearman correlations, and hierarchical multiple linear regression with FAI score as the dependent variable were performed. All analyses were re-run on the raw data during revision. Results: Self-reported TMD symptoms of any severity were present in 90.5% of participants. FAI scores correlated weakly to moderately with JSS (r = 0.40), PSS-14 (r = 0.37), and TAS-20 (r = 0.29) scores (all p < 0.001). After adjustment for sociodemographic variables (R2 = 0.147), sleep problems (β = 0.24), perceived stress (β = 0.16), and alexithymia (β = 0.14) explained an additional 14.6% of the variance in FAI scores (final R2 = 0.292; p < 0.001). Female sex, older age within the 18–40 range, and residence in an earthquake-affected province were also independently associated with higher FAI scores. Among the alexithymia dimensions, only difficulty identifying feelings was independently associated with FAI scores. Conclusions: In this young adult sample, self-reported TMD symptom severity was associated with sleep problems, perceived stress, and alexithymia, with weak-to-moderate effect sizes. Given the cross-sectional design and reliance on self-report, these findings reflect associations only—causal or temporal relationships cannot be inferred, and the findings support considering psychosocial factors when TMD-related symptoms are assessed.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Malatya Turgut Özal University, Malatya 44210, Turkey",
    "Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ağrı Ibrahim Cecen University, Ağrı 04100, Turkey",
    "Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University, Ordu 52200, Turkey",
    "Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri 38039, Turkey",
    "Malatya Provincial Directorate of Youth Sports, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Malatya 44070, Turkey"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Gökçe Bağcı Uzun",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4992-6915"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hakan Ocak"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ayla Arslan",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5859-7784"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Halil Yılmaz",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8234-4901"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Emre Demirel"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Muhammed Furkan Arpacı"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Murat Ayhan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hıdır Pekmez"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3b378mav7ae83.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/jcm15218272",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3b378mav7ae83",
  "issns": [
    "2077-0383"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/21/8272",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3603|Temporomandibular Joint Disorders"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224025707",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3b378mav7ae83.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:01Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/jcm15218272",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/21/8272"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "journal-openalex:F27",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Associations of Self-Reported Temporomandibular Disorder Symptoms with Sleep Problems, Perceived Stress, and Alexithymia in Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study",
  "title_text": "Associations of Self-Reported Temporomandibular Disorder Symptoms with Sleep Problems, Perceived Stress, and Alexithymia in Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3b378mav7ae83",
  "venue": "Journal of Clinical Medicine",
  "versions": []
}