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Replication of the three sensitivity groups and investigation of their characteristics in Japanese samples

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Abstract

Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is a basic trait to describe individual differences in sensitivity and reactivity to environmental stimuli. Studies in Western countries have suggested that people fall into the three sensitivity groups, namely high-, medium-, and low-SPS groups and explored their characteristics. This study investigated whether the results found in Western studies can be replicated in Japanese samples. Two samples of Japanese university students, namely Sample A (n = 1257) and Sample B (n = 720), participated in a questionnaire-based survey. In both samples their SPS levels were assessed using the Japanese version of Highly Sensitive Person Scale. Additionally, only in Sample B their temperament and affect were assessed using the Japanese version of the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. A series of latent class analysis indicated that the three-class model fitted best with the data. Each group could be interpreted as a high-, medium-, and low-SPS group, respectively. Furthermore, the characteristics of each group were explored considering the levels of BIS/BAS and positive and negative affect. Analyses of variance suggested that each sensitivity group in the Japanese samples had similar characteristics as those in Western samples. Although several issues should be addressed, most of the findings from Western studies could be replicated.

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Notes

  1. Cross Marketing Inc. is a company engaged mainly in marketing and academic research with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. As of June 2020, they had about 4.6 million web survey monitors all over Japan. Many researchers have collaborated with Cross Marketing Inc. to conduct surveys (e.g., Ueno, Takahashi, & Oshio, 2019), showing that they have obtained high reliability in academic research. To investigate whether the results from the metropolitan sample (Sample A) could be generalizable to a nationwide sample, we asked Cross Marketing Inc. to collect the data.

  2. This study also demonstrated that the bi-factor structure had better fit indices than the three-factor structure in HSPS-J19 (see Table S1).

  3. Although the BAS scale originally comprised three subscales (i.e., reward responsiveness, drive, and fun seeking), this study defined the composite score of these subscales as the BAS score following Pluess et al.’s (2018) study.

  4. In this comparison, we employed the data from Sample A because the mean score of HSPS-J19 in Sample B is much lower than other studies with Japanese university student samples (e.g., Takahashi, 2016; Yano et al., 2020a). However, it is difficult to identify why Sample B has a lower SPS.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Editage (https://www.editage.jp/) for English-language editing.

Funding

This study was funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Number JP19J20902 for the first author (KY) and JP18K03079 for the last author (KO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Community and Human Services, Rikkyo University, 1-2-26 Kitano, Saitama, Niiza-shi, 352-8558, Japan

    Kosuke Yano

  2. Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1), Tokyo, Japan

    Kosuke Yano

  3. Department of Community and Human Services, Rikkyo University, Saitama, Japan

    Kazuo Oishi

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  1. Kosuke Yano
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  2. Kazuo Oishi
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KY developed the study outline, collected data, performed data analyses, and wrote the paper.

KO supervised the writing process and the study design.

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Correspondence to Kosuke Yano.

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This study was approved by the ethics review board of College of Community and Human Services, Rikkyo University (No. 2017–02, No. KOMI19014A).

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All participants provided the consent before completing study survey.

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The publication of collected data was approved by the ethics review board and all the participants.

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Yano, K., Oishi, K. Replication of the three sensitivity groups and investigation of their characteristics in Japanese samples. Curr Psychol 42, 1371–1380 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01537-6

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