The HSC-24: A Psychometrically Adequate Measure of Environmental Sensitivity Across Belgium and the Netherlands and Across Child and Mother Report

• In Event: Advancing the Measurement of Environmental Sensitivity Across Different Countries, Developmental Periods, and Contexts

Abstract

Children and adolescents differ in the ability to perceive and process positive and negative environmental stimuli. Individual differences in environmental sensitivity can be measured with the Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) scale (Pluess et al., 2018). The HSC scale captures three dimensions: Ease of Excitation (i.e., being easily overwhelmed), Low Sensory Threshold (i.e., unpleasant feelings caused by strong sensory stimuli), and Aesthetic Sensitivity (i.e., being aware of subtleties in the environment). Recently, we adapted the HSC scale by adding items that fit the original factor structure but perform better than the original 12 items (i.e., allowing more variation in responses and capturing Environmental Sensitivity more broadly) (Weyn et al., 2019). The present study introduces the HSC-24 which is meant to be normally distributed, reliable, measurement invariant, and valid across different populations and informants.
Data from two studies were used. In Study 1, 496 Belgian young adolescents (Mage= 10.82, SDage= 0.56, boys= 46%) participated. In Study 2, 151 young adolescents (Mage= 12.57, SDage= 1.37, boys = 41.2%) and 542 mothers (characteristics child: Mage= 9.91, SDage= 2.12, boys= 52.7%) participated. Participants completed questionnaires regarding Environmental Sensitivity (i.e. HSC-24) and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (i.e., Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Youth Self-Report, and Child Behavioral Checklist).
The HSC-24 showed (a) an acceptable model fit, good reliability, a relatively normal distribution, and measurement invariance across Belgium and the Netherlands and across child and mother reports, (b) moderate agreement between child and mother reports, but (c) no evidence for the moderating role of the HSC-24 in the relation between parenting and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (Table 1 and 2). Regarding criterion validity, the HSC-24 performed just as well as the original HSC scale. Thus, despite some reservations for criterion validity, the HSC-24 showed adequate psychometric properties across different populations and informants.

Authors

• Sofie Weyn, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
  Presenting Author

• Karla Van Leeuwen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michael Pluess, Queen Mary University of London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Francesca Lionetti, G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara and Queen Mary University of London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Luc G. Goossens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Guy Bosmans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wim Van Den Noortgate, KU Leuven
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anne Sophie Bröhl, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patricia Bijttebier, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
  Non-Presenting Author