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. 2023 May 30:1-16.
doi: 10.1007/s12144-023-04759-y. Online ahead of print.

Must one take the bitter with the sweet? Sensory processing sensitivity and factors associated with resilience among artistically inclined individuals

Ying-Yi Patricia Chou  1   2
Affiliations

Must one take the bitter with the sweet? Sensory processing sensitivity and factors associated with resilience among artistically inclined individuals

Ying-Yi Patricia Chou. Curr Psychol. .

Abstract

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), linked with a penchant for the arts and creativity, exerts its bivalent influences, contingent on context, on individuals' health-related outcomes. But little is known about how it interacts with creative self-concept (CSC). Focusing on the role of SPS, this study identified risk and protective factors of resilience among artistically inclined individuals from middle to later life during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) restriction period and examined the interaction effect between SPS and CSC on depression. Two stages of analyses were pursued. Stage 1 identified factors associated with resilience by using regression and profile analyses on data from 224 anonymized respondents from middle to third age (Mage = 54.08, SD = 10.08, range = 40-84) with diverse disciplinary backgrounds in visual arts. Stage 2 examined the influence of SPS on the relationship between CSC and depression. SPS, lack of peer support of shared interests in the arts, and depression emerged as risk factors associated with lower levels of resilience. The profiles of SPS components among the relatively high and low resilience groups were found to be divergent. The effects of CSC on depression were contingent upon SPS, controlling for neuroticism. The findings call for future research to examine the differential correlational patterns among the SPS components and neuroticism across different populations. The risk/protective factors and patterns found in this study provide directions for research in SPS and applied work to support artistically inclined individuals from middle to later life.

Keywords: Creative self-concept; Middle to later life; Neuroticism; Sensory processing sensitivity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statementThe author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Profiles of sensory processing sensitivity subscale scores for the relatively-high and relatively-low resilience groups
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The conditional effect of creative self-concept on depression by sensory processing sensitivity, controlling for neuroticism
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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