Assessing the association of university stress and physiological reactivity with decision-making among students

Abstract

Compared with age-matched employees, university students report higher levels of chronic stress and this may affect their decision-making. The impact of chronic stress and physiological reactivity upon cognitive function is receiving more attention, but few studies have empirically assessed the associations of these variables concurrently. Our aim was to investigate if chronic student stress, as assessed by effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and overcommitment, and physiological reactivity, were related to decision-making. As measures of physiological reactivity, we collected salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and continuously recorded heart rate variability (HRV) data from male students (n = 79) at pretest and immediately after some computerized decision-making tasks (simple and choice- reaction times). Our findings suggest that students who are higher in overcommitment and who are more physiologically reactive (sAA and HRV indices) at the pretest stage may be more “at-risk” of poor decision-making than others. If others can replicate our findings in more diverse samples, this will contribute to an evidence base for interventions targeted at reducing overcommitment, ERI, and dysregulated autonomic reactivity to improve decision-making.

Keywords:

• Effort-reward imbalance
• overcommitment
• heart rate variability
• salivary alpha-amylase
• reaction-time
• university stress

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raymond Kuhnell

Mr Raymond Kuhnell has completed a degree in Psychological Science (Honours) at La Trobe University and has worked on several projects assessing the relationships between stress and physiological reactivity.

Zoe Whitwell

Ms Zoe Whitwell has completed a degree in Psychological (Honours) at La Trobe University and has worked on several projects assessing the relationships between stress and physiological reactivity.

Steven Arnold

Mr Steven Arnold has completed a degree in Psychological Science (Honours) at La Trobe University and has worked on several projects assessing the relationships between stress and physiological reactivity.

Michael I. C. Kingsley

Michael Kingsley is Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology and Director of Research for La Trobe Rural Health School, Australia. He is an Accredited Exercise Scientist with particular expertise in the measurement and evaluation of physiological responses to stress.

Matthew W. Hale

Matthew Hale is Senior Lecturer and neuroscientist at La Trobe University. His research is focused on understanding the neuronal circuitry that underlies emotional states such as anxiety, stress and sociability.

Morten Wahrendorf

Morten Wahrendorf is head of the working group “work and health” at the Institute for Medical Sociology University Düsseldorf, Germany. His research areas are work stress, health inequalities, life course epidemiology, comparative welfare research and ageing.

Nico Dragano

Nico Dragano is a Professor for Medical Sociology at the University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany. Main fields of interest are psychosocial risk factors at work, digitization of work, cardiovascular disease epidemiology and occupational prevention. He is affiliated with international networks, e.g. the IPD-Work consortium on stress research in European cohort studies.

Bradley J. Wright

Bradley Wright is a Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University and conducts research in the area of performance psychology. He has researched the links between occupational stress (individual and organisational factors) and ensuing ill-health by focussing on pre-clinical indices of stress and ill-health (immune, cardiovascular and hormonal systems).