The Personality Trait of Environmental Sensitivity Predicts Children’s Positive Response to School-Based Antibullying Intervention

Nocentini, Annalaura; Menesini, Ersilia; Pluess, Michael

doi:10.1177/2167702618782194

Cited by 108 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Specifically, girls scoring high on SPS showed a significant reduction in depression symptoms, which was evident at six and 12-month follow ups, whereas girls low in sensitivity did not show any significant change. These findings of heightened responsivity to positive experiences in individuals scoring high in SPS have recently been replicated in a large randomized control trial (N = 2,024) testing the efficacy of a schoolbased anti-bullying intervention (Nocentini et al, 2018). In line with expectations, the results of this study showed that the intervention significantly decreased victimization and bullying across the entire sample.…”

Section: Sps As a Marker Of Differential Susceptibilitysupporting

confidence: 80%

“…The analysis of the factorial structure of the scale indicated that the HSC scale has adequate internal consistency and good psychometric properties across independent samples (Pluess et al, 2017;Weyn et al, under review). Its criterion validity has been confirmed by showing that children scoring high on this scale are more sensitive and responsive to the positive influence of psychological interventions (Nocentini, Menesini, & Pluess, 2018;Pluess & Boniwell, 2015), as well as to both positive and negative parenting quality (Slagt et al, 2017).…”

Section: Sps Scales: the Highly Sensitive Person (Hsp) And Highly Senmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…"My child asks deep, thought-provoking questions"). Because this parent-report questionnaire includes additional (and partially distinct) items compared to the more extensively studied HSC scale for children (Nocentini et al, 2018;Pluess et al, 2017;Pluess & Boniwell, 2015;Slagt et al, 2017), this result may suggest that the inclusion of other items could allow one to capture specific SPS aspects not currently included in the HSC self-report questionnaire.…”

Section: Components Of Hsp and Hsc Scales And Hsc Rating-systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals with high levels of SPS are shown to benefit more from psychological intervention (Nocentini et al, 2018;Pluess & Boniwell, 2015). Intervention approaches may therefore not only be particularly vital for individuals high in SPS, given the association of SPS with psychopathology and stress-related problems, but also particularly effective.…”

Section: Intervention For High Sps Individuals Experiencing Psychologmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Context of Environmental Sensitivity: A Critical Review and Development of Research Agenda

Greven

Lionetti

Booth

et al. 2018

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Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is a trait describing inter-individual differences in sensitivity to environments, both positive and negative ones. SPS has attracted growing societal interest. However, (neuro)scientific evidence is lagging behind. We critically discuss how to measure SPS, how it relates to other theories of Environmental Sensitivity and other temperament and personality traits, how SPS interacts with environments to influence (a)typical development, what the underlying aetiologies and mechanisms are, and its relation to mental disorders involving sensory sensitivities. Drawing on the diverse expertise of the authors, we set an agenda for future research to stimulate the field. We conclude that SPS is a heritable, evolutionarily conserved trait, linked to increased risk for psychopathology and stress-related problems in response to negative environments, as well as to greater benefits (e.g., intervention responsivity, positive mood) in positive environments. We need advances in objective assessment of SPS, understanding mechanisms, differentiating it from (seemingly) related mental disorders, to exploit the potential of SPS to improve mental health, preserve human capital, and prevent adverse effects.

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Section: Sps As a Marker Of Differential Susceptibilitysupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Sps Scales: the Highly Sensitive Person (Hsp) And Highly Senmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Components Of Hsp and Hsc Scales And Hsc Rating-systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Intervention For High Sps Individuals Experiencing Psychologmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Context of Environmental Sensitivity: A Critical Review and Development of Research Agenda

Greven

Lionetti

Booth

et al. 2018

Preprint

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“…More recently, a range of new measures have been developed to assess sensitivity in children, including the 12-item Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) scale (Pluess et al, 2018) and the Highly Sensitive Child-Rating System (HSC-RS) (Lionetti, Aron, Aron, Klein, & Pluess, 2019), an observer-rated measure of sensitivity in young children. According to longitudinal and experimental studies, children that score high on these measures have been found to be more affected by their experiences such as school-based psychological programmes (Nocentini, Menesini, & Pluess, 2018;Pluess & Boniwell, 2015) and parenting quality (Lionetti, Aron, et al, 2019;Slagt, Dubas, van Aken, Ellis, & Dekovic, 2018).…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

People Differ in their Sensitivity to the Environment: An Integrated Theory and Empirical Evidence

Pluess¹,

Lionetti²,

En³

et al. 2020

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People differ in their sensitivity to similar experiences with some being generally more and some less sensitive. Several theories have been developed over the years to describe such differences in Environmental Sensitivity and a growing number of studies provide empirical evidence that some people are indeed more affected than others by environmental influences. Sensitivity has been associated with temperament traits in children as well as a number of biological factors. In this paper, we provide new experimental evidence that self-reported sensitivity predicts differences in the response to negative as well as positive experiences, after introducing a short sensitivity questionnaire for adults, building on the original Highly Sensitive Person scale (Aron & Aron, 1997), and investigating its psychometric properties as well as associations with the Big Five personality traits. Results across the five individual studies (total N = 1,140) suggest that individual differences in sensitivity to the environment can be assessed with the newly developed measure (HSP-12), validated by two experimental studies according to which the scale predicts heightened reactivity to both negative and positive experiences. Furthermore, sensitivity reflects a continuous spectrum from low to high along which people fall into three distinct sensitivity groups (low, medium, and high). Finally, sensitivity was found to fit a specific personality profile characterised by both high Neuroticism and high Openness to Experiences. We conclude that adults differ substantially in their sensitivity to environmental influences and that such differences can be measured reliably with a short and easily applicable sensitivity questionnaire.

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Assessment of School Anti-Bullying Interventions

et al. 2021

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IMPORTANCEBullying is a prevalent and modifiable risk factor for mental health disorders. Although previous studies have supported the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs; their population impact and the association of specific moderators with outcomes are still unclear.OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of school anti-bullying interventions, their population impact, and the association between moderator variables and outcomes.DATA SOURCES A search of Ovid MEDLINE, ERIC, and PsycInfo databases was conducted using 3 sets of search terms to identify randomized clinical trials (RCTs) assessing anti-bullying interventions published from database inception through February 2020. A manual search of reference lists of articles included in previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses was also performed. STUDY SELECTIONThe initial literature search yielded 34 798 studies. Included in the study were articles that (1) assessed bullying at school; (2) assessed the effectiveness of an anti-bullying program; (3) had an RCT design; (4) reported results; and (5) were published in English. Of 16 707 studies identified, 371 met the criteria for review of full-text articles; 77 RCTs were identified that reported data allowing calculation of effect sizes (ESs). Of these, 69 independent trials were included in the final meta-analysis database.DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Random-effects and meta-regression models were used to derive Cohen d values with pooled 95% CIs as estimates of ES and to test associations between moderator variables and ES estimates. Population impact number (PIN), defined as the number of children in the total population for whom 1 event may be prevented by an intervention, was used as an estimate of the population impact of universal interventions targeting all students, regardless of individual risk. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe main outcomes are the effectiveness (measured by ES) and the population impact (measured by the PIN) of anti-bullying interventions on the following 8 variable categories: overall bullying, bullying perpetration, bullying exposure, cyberbullying, attitudes that discourage bullying, attitudes that encourage bullying, mental health problems (eg, anxiety and depression), and school climate as well as the assessment of potential assocations between trial or intervention characteristics and outcomes. RESULTSThis study included 77 samples from 69 RCTs (111 659 participants [56 511 in the intervention group and 55 148 in the control group]). The weighted mean (range) age of participants in the intervention group was 11.1 (4-17) years and 10.8 (4-17) years in the control group. The weighted mean (range) proportion of female participants in the intervention group was 49.9% (0%-100%) and 50.5% (0%-100%) in the control group. Anti-bullying interventions were efficacious in reducing bullying (ES, −0.150; 95% CI, −0.191 to −0.109) and improving mental health problems (ES, −0.205; 95% CI, −0.277 to −0.133) at study end point, with PINs for universal interventions that target the total stud...

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The Personality Trait of Environmental Sensitivity Predicts Children’s Positive Response to School-Based Antibullying Intervention

Abstract: The personality trait of environmental sensitivity predicts children's positive response to school-based anti-bullying intervention. Clinical Psychological Science.

Cited by 108 publications

References 42 publications

Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Context of Environmental Sensitivity: A Critical Review and Development of Research Agenda

Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Context of Environmental Sensitivity: A Critical Review and Development of Research Agenda

People Differ in their Sensitivity to the Environment: An Integrated Theory and Empirical Evidence

Assessment of School Anti-Bullying Interventions

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