Highly Sensitive Children are More Reactive to Micromanipulations of Peer Environments: A Vignette-based Experiment

• In Event: Differential Susceptibility in the Domain of Peers

Abstract

Theories of Environmental Sensitivity postulate that sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a personality trait that renders some children more susceptible to both positive and negative environments (Greven et al., 2019). Although abundant studies support this hypothesis, three gaps remain in the literature: 1) most studies used correlational designs, 2) only a few studies focused on the peer environment despite its salience during adolescence (Masten et al., 2009), and 3) most studies are based on Western samples, limiting our knowledge of whether SPS functions similarly across cultures. This study tests a novel experimental paradigm in two samples to help address these gaps.

Data were collected in two Chinese samples (both about 40% girls). Samples 1 and 2 differed in school type (middle vs. elementary school), age (Mage = 12.99 vs. 10.42 years), and reporters of SPS (child-reported only vs. both child- and caregiver-reported). In both samples, peer acceptance and rejection were manipulated between-subjects using hypothetical vignettes adapted from the Children’s Rejection-Sensitivity Questionnaire, describing commonplace peer interactions in school settings (Downey et al., 1998). Participants were randomly allocated to either the acceptance or rejection condition, differing only in how the vignettes ended (i.e., with peer acceptance or rejection). Participants read four vignettes and imagined they were the protagonists. Both before and after this manipulation, they rated 5 self-directed (i.e., happy, sad, relaxed, nervous, angry) and 3 other-directed (i.e., friendly, angry, satisfied) mood items on a 4-point Likert scale. We calculated positive self- and other-directed mood as the mean of corresponding items, reverse-coding negative items. SPS was measured based on the Highly Sensitive Child Scale (Pluess et al., 2018). We hypothesized that there will be significant increases and decreases in both self- and other-directed mood in the acceptance and rejection conditions respectively, and such changes will be more pronounced among children with higher SPS scores.

Dependent t-tests revealed significant increases in positive self- and other-directed mood in the acceptance condition (sample 1: d = .54 and .52; sample 2: d = .30 and .41; ps < .00), and significant decreases in self- and other-directed mood in the rejection condition (sample 1: d = .68 and .84; sample 2: d = .65 and .66; ps < .00). Regression analyses controlling for baseline mood and child age revealed significant Condition × SPS interactions on both self- and other-directed mood in sample 1 (b = .34 and .30, ps < .01). Children with higher SPS scores showed larger increases in positive self- and other-directed mood upon acceptance, and larger decreases in positive self- and other-directed mood upon rejection. For sample 2, we found significant moderating effects of both caregiver- and child-reported SPS, only on self-directed mood (b = .16 and .15, ps < .05). See Figure 1 for visualizations of significant interactions of sample 1; other significant interactions follow the same pattern. Our findings were generally replicated across samples and suggest that (1) this novel experimental paradigm works and (2) that SPS can serve as a marker of Environmental Sensitivity in peer contexts.

Authors

• Danni Liu, Universiteit Utrecht
  Presenting Author

• Anouk van Dijk, Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)

• Maja Deković, Utrecht University

• Judith Semon Dubas, Utrecht University