AccScience Publishing / JCBP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JCBP025070011
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

The mediating role of self-esteem in sensory processing sensitivity and affective dependence among adolescents and young adults

Jimmy Bordarie1†* ,  Anais Seite2† ,  Alizée Richally2 ,  Amandine Deloustal2 ,  Caroline Giraudeau3
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1 Department of Psychology, Qualité de vie et santé psychologique, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Tours, Tours, France
2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Tours, Tours, France
3 Department of Psychology, Psychologie des âges de la vie et adaptation, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Tours, Tours, France
JCBP, 025070011 https://doi.org/10.36922/JCBP025070011
Submitted: 10 February 2025 | Revised: 13 March 2025 | Accepted: 14 March 2025 | Published: 3 April 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is an innate personality trait that affects approximately 30% of the population. It is characterized by more intense, complex, and rapid cognitive processing of stimuli, along with heightened emotional reactivity. This study examines the influence of SPS on self-esteem and affective dependence in adolescents and emerging adults, a critical developmental period marked by significant physical, psychological, emotional, and social changes. Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period, and self-esteem is strongly correlated with SPS during this period, with low self-esteem acting as a trigger for affective dependence. Hence, we aim to explore the relationship between these three variables. Our hypotheses were tested on 100 adolescents and young adults aged 15 – 20 years who completed an online questionnaire assessing SPS, self-esteem, and affective dependence. The results confirmed the influence of gender on sensitivity and self-esteem (p<0.01) and the impact of romantic relationship experience on affective dependence scores (p<0.05). The variables were significantly correlated (p<0.001). Sensitivity and self-esteem influenced affective dependence (p<0.001), and self-esteem played a mediating role between sensitivity and affective dependence. Our findings support the hypothesis that higher SPS is a vulnerability factor in the development of affective dependence. However, this study has some limitations, such as a small sample size, which limits generalizability. Therefore, further studies on a larger cohort can be conducted to validate these findings.

Keywords
High sensory processing sensitivity
Self-esteem
Affective dependence
Adolescents
Young adults
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Journal of Clinical and Basic Psychosomatics, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4414 Print ISSN: 3060-8562, Published by AccScience Publishing
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