SELF-ESTEEM IN ADOLESCENTS: MEDIATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SENSORY PROCESSING SENSITIVITY AND AFFECTIVE DEPENDENCE

High Sensory Processing Sensitivity (HSPS) (Aron & Aron, 1997) is an innate personality trait that affects approximately 30% of the population (Lionetti et al., 2018).It is characterized by more intense, complex and rapid cognitive processing of stimuli and heightened emotional reactivity than their peers (Gere et al., 2009).Highly sensitive adolescents are more reactive to stressful events (Burgard et al., 2022) and report lower socio-emotional well-being when faced with negative life events (Iimura, 2021).HSPS negatively predicts well-being, which is positively predicted by self-esteem (Orth & Robins, 2014).Self-esteem varies throughout an individual's life according to their positive or negative life experiences.In addition, individuals who are sensitive to sensory stimuli in general may be dependent in their peer relationships (Jerome & Liss, 2005).This study aims to investigate the influence of HSPS on self-esteem and affective dependence in adolescents, a critical developmental period characterized by significant physical, psychological, emotional and social changes.Our main hypotheses were (1) HSPS will negatively influence self-esteem and positively influence affective dependence; and (2) self-esteem will mediate the relationship between HSPS and affective dependence.The sample (n=100) consisted of 53% females and 47% males aged between 15 and 20 years.The mean age was 16.16 years old (SD=1.22)and 16% are in middle school and 87% in high school.They anonymously completed an online questionnaire assessing high sensory processing sensitivity (HSPS-FR), self-esteem (RSE) and affective dependence (ADS-9).Correlations, linear regressions and a mediation analysis were performed using JASP (version 0.19.3).Results showed that HSPS negatively influenced self-esteem (p<.001) and positively influenced affective dependence (p<.001).Self-esteem negatively influenced affective dependence (p<.001).The mediation analysis revealed the mediating role of self-esteem between HSPS and affective dependence, explaining the negative influence of HSPS.HSPS appears to be a vulnerability factor in the development of both self-esteem (Liss et al., 2005) and affective dependence (Jerome & Liss, 2005).However, self-esteem was a protective factor against affective dependence.Therefore, it would be interesting to investigate how highly sensitive people could increase their self-esteem.Limitations of the study (such as sample size and appropriateness of instruments for adolescents) are discussed.Suggestions and avenues for future research are also suggested.