TY - JOUR
T1 - Examination stress in academic students
T2 - a multimodal, real-time, real-life investigation of reported stress, social contact, blood pressure, and cortisol
AU - Koudela-Hamila, Susanne
AU - Smyth, Joshua
AU - Santangelo, Philip
AU - Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Objective: Academic examinations are a frequent and significant source of student stress, but multimodal, psychophysiological studies are still missing. Participants & methods: Psychological and physiological variables were assessed on 154 undergraduate students in daily life using e-diaries resp. blood pressure devices at the beginning of the semester, and again before an examination. Results: Multilevel analysis revealed lower calmness, more negative valence, higher task-related stress, higher demands, lower perceived control, lower frequency of social contact, and a higher desire to be alone during the examination period (all p values <.0001), as well as lower ambulatory systolic blood pressure (p =.004), heightened cortisol at awakening (p =.021), and a smaller increase in cortisol (p =.012). Conclusions: Our study revealed empirical evidence that examination periods are not only associated with indicators of dysphoria, stress, and social withdrawal but also by altered physiological processes, which might reflect anticipatory stress and withdrawal effects.
AB - Objective: Academic examinations are a frequent and significant source of student stress, but multimodal, psychophysiological studies are still missing. Participants & methods: Psychological and physiological variables were assessed on 154 undergraduate students in daily life using e-diaries resp. blood pressure devices at the beginning of the semester, and again before an examination. Results: Multilevel analysis revealed lower calmness, more negative valence, higher task-related stress, higher demands, lower perceived control, lower frequency of social contact, and a higher desire to be alone during the examination period (all p values <.0001), as well as lower ambulatory systolic blood pressure (p =.004), heightened cortisol at awakening (p =.021), and a smaller increase in cortisol (p =.012). Conclusions: Our study revealed empirical evidence that examination periods are not only associated with indicators of dysphoria, stress, and social withdrawal but also by altered physiological processes, which might reflect anticipatory stress and withdrawal effects.
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U2 - 10.1080/07448481.2020.1784906
DO - 10.1080/07448481.2020.1784906
M3 - Article
C2 - 32669059
AN - SCOPUS:85088016814
SN - 0744-8481
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Journal of American College Health
JF - Journal of American College Health
ER -