Investigating the effects of sensory processing sensitivity, negative affectivity and conflict resolution styles on relationship satisfaction


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: TED University, Graduate School, Dev. Focused Clin. Child&Adolescent Psy., Turkey

Approval Date: 2022

Thesis Language: English

Student: Melis Zorlular

Supervisor: Tuğba Uzer Yıldız

Abstract:

There are few studies testing the associations between personality trait Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) and interpersonal relationships and none of them specifically focuses on romantic relationship satisfaction. The current study aimed to determine whether SPS is a risk factor or a susceptibility marker in the context of romantic relationships. Two hundred six University students who have been in a romantic relationship at least for twenty-four months and who are not married filled out the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS), Revised-Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS), Conflict Resolution Style Scale (CRSS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and Risky Families Questionnaire (RF-Q). Multiple Mediation Analyses indicated that both the negative affectivity and negative conflict resolution style significantly mediated the association between the SPS and romantic relationship satisfaction. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that the two-way interaction between SPS and childhood environment on negative affectivity and the same interaction on negative conflict resolution style were not significant. The findings suggest that SPS is an independent risk factor beyond childhood environment for developing negative psychological symptoms. Finally, there were insignificant but positive association between SPS and romantic relationship satisfaction after controlling for negative affectivity and negative conflict resolution style suggesting that two mediator variables are the major components decreasing the relationship satisfaction for Highly Sensitive People (HSP). The current study significantly contributed to the gap in the literature by showing which mechanisms play role between SPS and relationship satisfaction that differs HSP from non-HSP.