Academic study, college examinations, and stress: Issues in the interpretation of cardiovascular reactivity assessments with student participants

Stress arising from academic performance affects many college students. Moreover, students account for the majority of participants in cardiovascular reactivity research. The current research comprised three brief experiments investigating different aspects of student samples. In Experiment 1, students' (n = 30) academic fear of failure was found to be negatively correlated with systolic blood pressure reactivity. In Experiment 2, students' (n= 13) blood pressure was found to be significantly elevated 2 weeks before college examinations, compared with postexamination levels. Finally, in Experiment 3, students' (n = 19) examination performance was positively correlated with preexamination cardio-vascular reactivity. These findings suggest specific college-related factors that influence the cardiovascular stress response in students and, therefore, should aid the interpretation of much research conducted in cardiovascular health psychology.