Biological, emotional, behavioral, and coping reactions to examination stress in high and low state anxious subjects

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Abstract
Responses to examination stress of high and low state anxious students (HSA/LSA) have rarely been investigated with respect to different levels of stress reactions simultaneously. The present study investigated if state anxiety influences biological, emotional, behavioral, and coping reactions to examination stress. According to the state anxiety score obtained immediately before an oral exam in Psychology, extreme groups of 29 LSA and 29 HSA were selected from a total group of 82 students. Dependent variables were biological measures (heart rate, cortisol, secretory immunoglobulin A), self-ratings of emotional states, observer ratings on behavior, situational coping behavior and achievement. While no significant differences in biological stress reactions between HSA and LSA students were observed, HSA subjects reported higher emotional and bodily discomfort than LSA, which corresponded to the observer ratings of their behavior, and they received lower grades. HSA subjects were characterized by sensitizing coping strategies, LSA by defensive ones.