Temperamental overexcitability, household chaos, and lack of focused attention for academic learning

Individuals high in temperamental sensitivity are considered to orient their attention even to irrelevant stimuli in their current environments. Since this characteristic makes it more difficult for them to focus on the relevant stimuli in a situation, they should be more distractible than less sensitive individuals. However, how strongly this heightened distractibility results in actual distraction (i.e., lack of focused attention) should depend on the extent to which situations provide distracting stimulation. This study predicted that the relationship between university students’ overexcitability (i.e., an aspect of sensitivity) and lack of focused attention to academic learning was moderated by the degree of household chaos (i.e., potentially distracting noise and disorganization) in their homes during the lecture period. One hundred students approached on a Swiss university campus completed self-report measures on the variables of interest. Multiple regression analysis involving simple slope analyses revealed the expected interaction: The more intense the household chaos, the stronger the positive relationship between overexcitability and lack of focused attention for academic learning. The findings were robust when the current level of recovery was statically taken into account. The findings suggest practical implications for highly sensitive learners.