State anxiety and cardiovascular activity in an academic examination

Abstract

Exam is an academic stressor that frequently triggers the affective reaction of anxiety, as well as psychophysiological changes in the autonomic nervous system. Anxiety is a negative affective variable associated with a low level of performance. This study examined the impact of an academic exam on state anxiety (SA) levels and the effects on cardiovascular activity during its performance, as well as its possible influence on the score. The study group was composed of 122 female university students. Cardiovascular responses (heart rate [HR], diastolic blood pressure, and systolic blood pressure) were recorded continuously in three phases (before, during, and after the exam) for each participant. The SA was obtained with the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before the exam. Then, those with extremely low and high SA scores were assigned to the low and high anxiety groups, respectively. The exam score reflected the performance level. The results partially confirmed our hypotheses. The high SA group showed significant fluctuations in cardiovascular activity; in particular, the HRs were higher than in the low SA group during the exam (not in diastolic and systolic pressures, respectively). On the other hand, the high SA group showed lower performance expectations scores than the low SA group, and the level of performance was similar in the two groups. Therefore, the exam confirmed changes in the HR with respect to the SA level, with no significant impact on performance.