Parent‐Child Relationships and Fear of Evaluation in Preadolescents: The Mediating Role of Sensory Processing Sensitivity

ABSTRACT The present study investigated the mediating roles of three dimensions of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), i.e., low sensory threshold, ease of excitation, and aesthetic sensitivity, in the effects of parent‐child intimacy and parent‐child conflict on preadolescents' fear of evaluation. A total of 597 preadolescents ( M age = 11.10 years, SD = 1.05) were recruited to complete the Chinese version of the Parent‐Child Close Scale, Parent‐Child Conflict Questionnaire, Highly Sensitive Child Scale, Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale, and Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale to assess their parent‐child relationships, SPS, and fear of evaluation. Results indicated that parent‐child conflict but not parent‐child intimacy has a significant direct effect on fear of evaluation. Ease of excitation played a mediating role in the relationship between parent‐child conflict and fear of evaluation. However, neither parent‐child intimacy nor parent‐child conflict could significantly affect preadolescents' fear of evaluation via their low sensory threshold and aesthetic sensitivity. The findings revealed that different dimensions of SPS may explain the relationship between family psychosocial environment and preadolescents' social adaptive development in different ways.