Measurement of environmental sensitivity in adolescents: Chinese version of the Highly Sensitive Child Scale and its moderation role / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

【Objective】 To revise the Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) Scale for Chinese Adolescents and investigate the role of adolescents’ sensitivity to environmental influences. 【Methods】 The HSC Scale was translated into Chinese. A total of 2166 adolescents in Xi’an were selected for exploratory factor, confirmatory factor analyses and reliability analysis. The participants were 609 healthy adolescents and 105 depressive adolescents aged 14-17 years, who were evaluated with the HSC scale and PHQ-9 scale as well as sleep duration and academic achievement questions. 【Results】 First, the factor structure (CFI=0.989, GFI=0.977, AGFI=0.958, TLI=0.983, RMSEA=0.042, RMR=0.050) indicated that HSC scale was a reliable measure of environmental sensitivity. The results supported a bifactor model with a general sensitivity factor and three group factors. Second, the Cronbach α was 0.892, and the test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.743. Third, depressive adolescents had a significantly higher HSC score, compared with the healthy ones (F=15.1, P<0.01). Fourth, the relationship between BMI and adolescent adjustment was moderated by environmental sensitivity. Simple slope analysis showed that when the level of environmental sensitivity was higher, weight gain could predict adolescents’ emotional, sleep and academic problems. 【Conclusion】 The Chinese version of HSC has good psychometric characteristics and may be applied in Chinese adolescents. Environmental sensitivity may be a personality factor that influences depressive symptoms in adolescents.