BIOLOGICAL, EMOTIONAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND COPING REACTIONS TO EXAMINATION STRESS IN HIGH AND LOW STATE ANXIOUS SUBJECTS

Responses to examination stress of high and low state anxious students (HSA/LSA) have rarely been investigated with respect to different lev els of stress reactions simultaneously. The present study investigated if state anxiety influences biological, emotional, behavioral, and co ping reactions to examination stress. According to the state anxiety s core obtained immediately before an oral exam in Psychology, extreme g roups of 29 LSA and 29 HSA were selected from a total group of 82 stud ents. Dependent variables were biological measures (heart rate, cortis ol, secretory immunoglobulin A), self-ratings of emotional states, obs erver ratings on behavior, situational coping behavior and achievement . While no significant differences in biological stress reactions betw een HSA and LSA students were observed, HSA subjects reported higher e motional and bodily discomfort than LSA, which corresponded to the obs erver ratings of their behavior, and they received lower grades. HSA s ubjects were characterized by sensitizing coping strategies, LSA by de fensive ones.