Study, examinations, and stress: blood pressure assessments in college students1

The issue of stress associated with higher education and its impact on markers of student health is explored in three experiments looking at blood pressure levels in college students. All participants were full‐time undergraduate students of psychology. In Experiment 1, academic fear of failure, assessed using psychometric testing, was found to be associated with depressed blood pressure responses among students who performed a stressful task on a computer. In Experiment 2, students were found to exhibit higher blood pressure before end‐of‐semester examinations than afterwards. In Experiment 3, students of relatively high academic ability were found to have demonstrated increased levels of pre‐examination blood pressure responses to stress. Overall, the three experiments suggest ways in which the stressfulness of student life may have adverse consequences for student health and, moreover, ways in which the stressfulness of student life can be further explored. Factors such as fear of failure, impending examinations and academic ability must be taken into account when considering stress‐related health consequences on campus.