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The association between sensory processing sensitivity, the five-factor model and university adjustment amongst South African university students

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Abstract

Adjusting to university represents a substantial challenge in the lives of emerging adults and has been the focus of significant educational and personality psychology research. To date, however, no study has examined university adjustment as a function of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) - a personality trait characterised by strong emotional reactivity and a heightened ability to detect and deeply process environmental stimulation, but with a consequent risk for debilitating feelings of overwhelm. Using a multiethnic sample of 580 first year South African psychology students, we examined university adjustment differences between students scoring high and low on SPS. Furthermore, we tested whether the effects of SPS on adjustment were a) independent from the five-factor model and b) moderated by levels of early parental care. We found that students scoring high (vs low) on SPS reported significantly worse adjustment to university. Opposite to theoretical claims, we only found a moderating effect for parental care for students low on SPS. By deconstructing SPS into its component factors, we discovered that poor adjustment was driven by a propensity towards negative affect, but the ability of high SPS individuals to carefully and deeply process stimulation served to partially offset adjustment difficulties. Importantly, SPS appeared to capture variation in university adjustment independent of the five-factor model. We conclude that SPS may be a useful personality construct for identifying students who find university adjustment particularly overwhelming and could thus benefit from targeted support and intervention.

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Acknowledgements

This study formed part of a doctoral dissertation submitted by AM. Data on the Highly Sensitive Person Scale from this study were psychometrically evaluated and written up as a separate manuscript. Study data are available upon publication: [dataset] May, A (2020), SPS and University Adjustment - South Africa, Mendeley Data, V1, doi:https://doi.org/10.17632/2x9dvzk4xx.1. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

The authors would like to thank the students that participated in this study, as well as the reviewers of this manuscript for their constructive comments. The DSI-NRF Center of Excellence in Human Development is thanked for their funding contribution.

Funding

The support of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development towards this research/activity is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE in Human Development.

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  1. Division of Human Genetics, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand and the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Andrew K. May

  2. Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Michael M. Pitman

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Both authors contributed to the study conception, design and data collection. Data preparation and analysis was performed by AM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AM and commented on by MP. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andrew K. May.

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This study was approved by the University of the Witwatersrand's Human Research Ethics Committee (Non-medical). Clearance certificate number: H16/05/34.

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May, A.K., Pitman, M.M. The association between sensory processing sensitivity, the five-factor model and university adjustment amongst South African university students. Curr Psychol 42, 7938–7952 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02035-5

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