Environmental sensitivity in children is associated with emotion recognition.

Abstract

Children differ significantly in their emotion recognition, which represents an important component of social competence. According to theory and initial empirical studies in adults, individual differences in the trait of environmental sensitivity have been associated with emotion recognition, but this has not been studied in highly sensitive children yet. Highly sensitive children are generally understood to perceive and process environmental stimuli, including social ones, more easily and deeply than other children. We hypothesized that highly sensitive children would perform better in an objective emotion recognition task and be rated as more socially competent compared to low sensitive children. Ninety-seven 7- to 9-year-old U.K. primary school children (47% girls) completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test's child version on a computer one-on-one with a researcher during school hours on school premises. Teachers rated children's sensitivity using the Highly Sensitive Child in School scale and also reported on children's social competence. Children completed the Highly Sensitive Child scale. The data were collected in 2022. Teacher-reported sensitivity emerged as a significant predictor of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test's child version and social competence, while child-reported sensitivity was not associated with emotion recognition. Teacher-reported overstimulation of children was negatively associated with social competence. This study is the first to report links between children's environmental sensitivity, emotion recognition skills, and social competence. Findings are consistent with theories on environmental sensitivity and highlight the potential benefits of high sensitivity but will need to be replicated in more ethnically diverse samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).