Sensitivity measures
Sensitivity can be measured easily with a range of questionnaires as well as observational assessment.
Here we provide general information on the various questionnaires developed to measure sensitivity.
If you are interested in using these measures for research or in practice, you can do so after signing up for free membership.
Members have free access to download the existing measures as well as additional documents with information on how to use and score the measures.
We also provide detailed protocols on how to translate and adapt sensitivity questionnaires into different languages. Please note that all our documents and materials are copyrighted.
| Type of Measure | Name of the Measure | Description | Language | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questionnaire | Highly Sensitive Person Scale - Revised (HSP-R) | The Highly Sensitive Person Scale – Revised (HSP-R) is an 18-item self-report measure designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in adults. Each of the 18 items is rated on a 7-point Likert scale. | English | Pluess, M., Aron, E., Kähkönen, J., Lionetti, F., Huang, Y., Tillmann, T., Greven, C., & Aron, A. (2024). Evolution of the Concept of Sensitivity and its Measurement: The Highly Sensitive Person Scale-Revised. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/w7bqu |
| Questionnaires | Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSP) | The Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSP) is a 27-item self-report measure designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in adults. Each of the 27 items is rated on a 7-point Likert scale. | English | Aron, E.N. and A. Aron, Sensory-processing sensitivity and its relation to introversion and emotionality. J Pers Soc Psychol, 1997. 73(2): p. 345-68. |
| Questionnaires | Highly Sensitive Person Scale – Brief Version (HSP-12) | The Highly Sensitive Person Scale – Brief Version (HSP-12) is a 12-item self-report measure designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in adults. Each of the 12 items is rated on a 7-point Likert scale. | English | Pluess, M., Lionetti, F., Aron, E.N., & Aron, A. (2020). People Differ in their Sensitivity to the Environment: Measurement of Sensitivity, Association with Personality Traits and Experimental Evidence |
| Questionnaires | Highly Sensitive Child Scale (HSC) | The Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) scale is a 12-item self-report measure designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 18 years. Each of the 12 items is rated on a 7-point Likert scale. | English | Pluess, M., Assary, E., Lionetti, F., Lester, K. J., Krapohl, E., Aron, E. N., & Aron, A. (2018). Environmental sensitivity in children: Development of the Highly Sensitive Child Scale and identification of sensitivity groups. Developmental Psychology, 54(1), 51-70. doi: 10.1037/dev0000406 |
| Questionnaires | Highly Sensitive Child Scale - Parent Version (HSC) | The Highly Sensitive Child Scale - Parent Version (HSC) is the 12-item parent-report version of the original HSC scale designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in children (Pluess et al., 2018). The scale is intended for parents to rate their children’s sensitivity. Each of the items is rated on a scale from 1 to 7. | English | Sperati, A., Spinelli, M., Fasolo, M., Pastore, M., Pluess, M., & Lionetti, F. (2024). Investigating sensitivity through the lens of parents: validation of the parent-report version of the Highly Sensitive Child scale. Development and Psychopathology, 36(1), 415-428. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422001298 |
| Questionnaires | Highly Sensitive Child Scale – Extended Version (HSC-21) | The Highly Sensitive Child – Extended Version (HSC-21) scale is a 21-item self-report measure designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 18 years. Each of the 21 items is rated on a 7-point Likert scale. | English, Dutch | Weyn, S., Van Leeuwen, K., Pluess, M., Lionetti, F., Goossens, L., Bosmans, G., Van Den Noortgate, W., Debeer, D., Brohl, A. S., & Bijttebier, P. (2022). Improving the Measurement of Environmental Sensitivity in Children and Adolescents: The Highly Sensitive Child Scale-21 Item Version. Assessment, 29(4), 607-629. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120983894 |
| Teacher Report | Highly Sensitive Child in School (HSC – School) scale | The Highly Sensitive Child in School (HSC – School) scale is a 6-item teacher-report sensitivity scale designed to assess children’s Environmental Sensitivity in the school context. Each of the items is rated by teachers on a scale from 1 to 7. Three additional items are used to identify signs of overstimulation that sensitive children may show in the school context. | English | Kähkönen, J. E., Lionetti, F., Castelli, L., & Pluess, M. (2024, December 9). Assessing Environmental Sensitivity in the Primary School Context: The Development and Validation of the Highly Sensitive Child in School Scale (HSC – School). https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/mhrvz (Please note this is a preprint and the final reference will be updated here upon publication) |
| Observational Measure | The Highly Sensitive Child – Rating System (HSC – RS) | The Highly Sensitive Child – Rating System (HSC – RS) is an observational measure designed to assess Environmental Sensitivity in three-year-old children based on selected scenes from the Lab-TAB procedure. Children’s responses in a series of standardised situations are rated by trained experts. This measure can only be used after specific training. | English | Lionetti, F., Klein, D. N., Aron, A., Aron, E., & Pluess, M. (2019). Observer-Rated Environmental Sensitivity Moderates Children’s Response to Parenting Quality in Early Childhood. Developmental Psychology. |