Parenting Impacts Highly Sensitive Children and Adolescents’ Mental Well-being: An Intergenerational Perspective

Abstract

Highly sensitive person (HSP) is a newly proposed construct related to high level of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). Highly sensitive individuals are more strongly influenced by environment, showing more plasticity under positive or negative circumstances. While parenting has been found to predict offspring’s mental health, factors like personality and temperament are also thought to be moderating the relation between parenting and offspring’s outcomes. This paper focused on highly sensitive children and adolescents, and aimed to review researchers’ findings about the impact of parenting on their mental well-being, connecting findings from different fields. After introducing conceptual backgrounds, it is concluded that highly sensitive children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to adverse parenting and might have poor mental health. If they are in positive parental environment, better developmental outcomes are also expected. In the mechanism section, this paper synthesized the gene-environment interaction to further explain existing research results. This paper also speculated the intergenerational influence of parenting on highly sensitive children and adolescents. Comprehending the way parenting impacts highly sensitive children and adolescents’ mental health is critical for further investigation and application to reduce negative impact on their mental well-being.