Behavioral and physiological correlates of stress related to examination performance in college chemistry students

This study was designed to assess physiological and behavioral correlates of academic stress during a college course in organic chemistry in the USA. Participants (45 females, 46 males, mean age 19.88 years) were screened for their basal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical activity using saliva samples collected at the beginning of the course and after each major test. Displacement activities (DAs) were observed during each test by videotaping students' behavior when they were taking the tests. These variables were then used as predictors of the students' achievement as measured by their grade point average (GPA) scores, American College Testing (ACT) scores, and their final grade in the class. Ninety-one students, enrolled in Organic Chemistry I at Marshall University during the summer of 2009, were recruited for this study. It was found that individual differences in the physiological stress responses are a factor in predicting the students' ability to pass a challenging class. A logistic model built on GPA, DAs during stress, and salivary hormone (cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone) concentrations was able to correctly classify almost 90% of the students passing the class. The same model was not nearly as successful in determining the possible factors behind failing the class, because the classification success was just 52%, a figure close to chance. We conclude that a clear set of characteristics related to the students' ability and resilience to psychological stress are necessary to succeed in a challenging class. The reason behind dropping or failing a class could be less defined. These data indicated that investigating the physiological and behavioral propensities associated with psychological stress can help us better understand an individual's coping responses to a long-term challenging situation.