(PS3-43) Sensory Modality, Activation Control, and Depressive Mood in Early Adolescence

Abstract Text: Youth depression has increased 6% since 2006 and researchers have sought to identify potential risk factors (Shorey et al., 2022). One identified risk factor of depression in adolescents and children is sensory sensitivity (Paquet et al., 2022). Increased sensory reactivity is associated with dysfunction in effortful control, a temperamental self-regulation component that is negatively associated with depression (Diamant & Smet, 2024; Gulley et al., 2015). Activation control, a facet of effortful control that indicates one’s capacity to act despite avoidant tendencies, might be a key factor in understanding the link between sensory sensitivity and depression. However, little is known about whether sensitivity to specific sensory modalities relates to both depression and activation control in early adolescence. The present study examines the associations between three sensory modalities (auditory, tactile, and gustatory/olfactory), activation control, and depressive mood. We hypothesized that heightened sensitivity in these modalities would be associated with both activation control and depressive mood.
Participants were 86 early adolescent girls (M age = 11.0 years, 71.6% White) from a community sample in the Southeastern region of the United States. Participants self-reported activation control, depressive mood, and sensory experiences on the activation control and depressive mood subscales of Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire – Revised (EATQ-R; Ellis & Rothbart, 1999) ( =.71,  =.71, respectively) and auditory, tactile, and gustatory/olfactory subscales of Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ; Baranek, 2009) ( = .75,  = .85,  = .84, respectively). Separate linear regressions were conducted in R to examine unique associations between sensory modality sensitivity (auditory, tactile, and gustatory/olfactory) (independent variables) and activation control and depressive mood (dependent variables).
Tactile sensitivity was negatively associated with activation control ( = -0.02, SE = 0.01, p < 0.05) and positively associated with depressive mood ( = 0.03, SE = 0.01, p < 0.001). Gustatory/olfactory sensitivity was negatively associated with activation control (= -0.02, SE = 0.01, p < 0.05) and positively associated with depressive mood ( = 0.02, SE = 0.01, p < 0.05). Auditory sensitivity was positively associated with depressive mood ( = 0.03, SE = 0.75, p < 0.05), but was not with activation control.
We found that high tactile and gustatory/olfactory sensitivity was associated with lower activation control and greater depressive mood, whereas high auditory sensitivity only associated greater depressive mood. Our findings suggested that heightened sensitivity may contribute to increased avoidance tendencies. Sensory modalities, specifically high auditory, tactile, and gustatory/olfactory sensitivity, may be potential risk factors for depression in early adolescence. These findings could be valuable to clinicians, as assessing sensory sensitivity in children and adolescents may support screening for early signs of depression. Future research should utilize longitudinal methods to explore how sensory sensitivity interacts with activation control and depressive mood over time.