Sensitivity Measures

In this webinar, we share the latest research on highly sensitive children in primary school and present new resources, including our revised website, a new teacher questionnaire to identify sensitive children, a new online training module for teachers about sensitive children, and a professional assessment of highly sensitive children.

Registration is now open for the 3rd International Conference on Sensitivity Research: We are delighted to welcome you to the 3rd International Conference on Sensitivity Research at the University of Surrey.

This conference brings together leading researchers and scholars to explore the latest advancements in sensitivity research. With a diverse programme including insightful presentations, a poster session, and a dynamic panel discussion, we aim to foster engaging discussions and meaningful collaborations.

We explored the connection between high sensitivity, emotion regulation, and parenting. While heightened sensitivity can pose challenges, the results of our study show that warm and responsive caregiving can significantly enhance emotion regulation in highly sensitive children.

These findings emphasize the importance of nurturing parenting in fostering emotional resilience and psychological well-being in sensitive children.

The 3rd International Conference on Sensitivity Research will take place on May 23rd 2025 at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom (a 30min train ride from London).

Besides an exciting invited programme (to be announced in early 2025), we welcome submission of abstracts for a limited number of talks and posters on any recent research on sensitivity.

Our individual degree of sensitivity to the world around us affects how we experience both good and bad events. In two studies, we explored how individuals with heightened environmental sensitivity respond more strongly to both stressful and positive experiences, suggesting practical ways to support mental health based on these insights.

The 2nd International Conference on Sensitivity Research took place online on the 22nd of May, 2024. In this blog post, we summarize the meeting and highlight some key contributions from various sensitivity researchers.

We investigated the relationship between sensory processing sensitivity and insomnia symptoms, testing the hypothesis that daily stressors would impact highly sensitive persons during nighttime.

We found that heightened sleep reactivity explains the relationship between sensitivity and sleep disruption. This study holds potential for helping sensitive people overcome their sleep problems.

Research shows that people react differently to similar stimuli due to differences in their personality. This research study focuses on how people with higher sensitivity to external stimuli – commonly defined as Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) – react when exposed to adverts with excessive visual stimuli (i.e., colour, dynamic imagery, complex layouts).

In our study on sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), health, and perceived stress, we observed that perceived stress acts as a mediator between SPS and poor physical health, particularly in a predominantly Hispanic population.

This suggests that prioritizing stress reduction may enhance the impact of SPS on physical health.