Examination stress as an ecological inducer of cortisol and psychological responses to stress in undergraduate students

Weekes, Nicole Y.; Lewis, Richard S.; Patel, Falgooni; Garrison-Jakel, Jared; Berger, Dale E.; Lupien, Sonia J.

doi:10.1080/10253890601029751

Cited by 76 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The lack of significant positive correlation between elevations in cortisol and elevations in psychological stress during the examination period was in agreement with the study by Weekes et al, 7 who reported no significant correlations in cortisol and elevations in psychological stress measures. However, the causal relationship between increase in stress hormone and serum lipid levels could not be established by the present study although they have same precursor skeletal structure.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…While a few studies have found significant positive correlations between psychological and hormonal measures of stress, others have found no significant correlations between these measures, or even negative correlations between these measures 6,7 . Since serum cortisol has similar primary structure (cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring system) as steroids and lipids, and lipids are usually metabolized to release energy, there may be a possibility of examination stress affecting the lipid profile in the body.…”

Section: African Health Sciences Vol 15 Issue 1 March 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, blood glucose and lipid profile of undergraduate students under examination stress.

Maduka¹,

Neboh²,

Ufelle³

2015

Afr H. Sci.

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Abstract.Background: Stress is an extremely adaptive phenomenon in human beings and cortisol is a known stress hormone. Examination has been described as a naturalistic stressor capable of affecting human health. Objectives: To estimate the relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, fasting blood glucose (FBG) and lipid profile during examination stress. Methods: Two hundred and eight (208) apparently-healthy undergraduate students (aged, 24 ± 6 years) were involved in the study. Exactly 5 mls of venous blood was collected from each subject 1-3 hours before a major examination. A second assessment was done on the same students 3-4 weeks before any examination (control samples). Cortisol and adrenaline were assayed using ELISA techniques, FBG was assayed using enzymatic method while lipid parameters were assayed using standard enzymatic-spectrophotometric methods. Results: There was statistically significant increase in serum cortisol, adrenaline, Total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels in students under examination stress compared to the non examination period (p=0.001, 0.013, 0.0001, 0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively). FBG showed no significant increase. There was also significant positive correlation (r=0.297, p=0.032) between serum cortisol and TC/HDL ratio (cardiac risk factor) before examination stress but not during the stress period. Conclusions: Significant positive correlation was observed between cortisol and TC/HDL ratio before examination stress.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: African Health Sciences Vol 15 Issue 1 March 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, blood glucose and lipid profile of undergraduate students under examination stress.

Maduka¹,

Neboh²,

Ufelle³

2015

Afr H. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…There are also differences in stress responses by gender that we do not thoroughly explore in this paper (Del Giudice et al, 2011;Sauro et al, 2003;Stroud, Salovey, & Epel, 2002;Weekes et al, 2006). In particular, males may be more responsive to achievement-related stressors, whereas females may be more responsive to social rejection (Stroud et al, 2002).…”

Section: Gender Differences and Developmental Changes In Stress And Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress, Sleep, and Performance on Standardized Tests: Understudied Pathways to the Achievement Gap

Heissel¹,

Levy

Adam³

2017

AERA Open

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Children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) and racial-/ethnic-minority groups score lower on average on standardized academic tests relative to high-SES and White families, respectively (Bradbury, Corak, Waldfogel, & Washbrook, 2015;Reardon, 2011). Many factors contribute to the achievement gap, including class size, teacher characteristics, parent participation, and hunger and nutrition (Barton & Coley, 2009). Although acknowledging these factors, the present paper focuses on an understudied component of the achievement gap: how biological stress responses associated with stress exposure affect performance on standardized tests. Stress exposures come from school, home, and neighborhood factors and can affect the functioning of multiple stresssensitive biological systems. We focus here on two such systems: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sleep. As we show, stress-related alterations in these systems can affect students' learning and test-taking experience. We argue that achievement gaps are at least partly driven by differential stress exposure and biological stress responses between groups. The Stress Disparity ModelHere we provide a brief overview of a theoretical model of how stress exposure and resulting biological stress responses might affect academic achievement as measured by standardized tests. We call this model the stress disparity model. Figure 1 displays the pathways of this model; Figure 2 focuses on the outcomes measured as an achievement gap. We present evidence for this model throughout the paper.We begin by noting that low-SES and racial-/ethnicminority children are more likely to be exposed to stressful life events relative to higher-income or White students (Pathway A; Hatch & Dohrenwend, 2007;Repetti, Taylor, & Seeman, 2002

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“…In addition, based on a large body of literature showing that cortisol levels increase in response to naturalistic acute stressors (e.g., Weekes et al, 2006), we would expect to find that changes in cortisol would parallel the increase in IL-6 in this research. An important extension of this work will be to examine the simultaneous or differential trajectories of these physiological systems.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cytokine responses and math performance: The role of stereotype threat and anxiety reappraisals

John‐Henderson¹,

Rheinschmidt²,

Mendoza‐Denton³

2015

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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This research independently manipulated two potential attenuators of stereotype threat -reappraisal of anxiety and test framing -to explore their independent and combined effects. Female participants took a difficult math exam that was described as gender-biased or gender-fair and were told that anxious arousal could positively impact performance or were given no information regarding arousal. Levels of the cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL-6), an immune marker of inflammation, were measured in oral mucosal transudate (OMT) both before and after the exam. Our findings indicate that directing reappraisal of physiological arousal attenuated increases in IL-6 across test framing conditions, and was especially effective under stereotype threat (i.e., gender-biased test condition). Reappraisal also mapped onto better test performance in the threat condition. Together, these findings provide insight into the unique and interactive effects of two situational interventions meant to reduce stereotype threat, indexed here by both physiological and performance-based correlates of threat.

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Examination stress as an ecological inducer of cortisol and psychological responses to stress in undergraduate students

Cited by 76 publications

References 43 publications

The relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, blood glucose and lipid profile of undergraduate students under examination stress.

The relationship between serum cortisol, adrenaline, blood glucose and lipid profile of undergraduate students under examination stress.

Stress, Sleep, and Performance on Standardized Tests: Understudied Pathways to the Achievement Gap

Cytokine responses and math performance: The role of stereotype threat and anxiety reappraisals

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