title: Test Anxiety and Salivary Cortisol Levels in Nursing Students.
abstract: Stress, in the form of test anxiety, inhibits examination performance essential to nursing success. Salivary cortisol, a biomarker of stress, was obtained before 3 examinations and 1 nursing didactic class from a sample of baccalaureate nursing students in a midwestern US university. Significant differences were found between cortisol sampling events and by junior or senior status. These findings suggest that diverse examinations and program level yield differences in stress for students.
authors.affiliation: Author Affiliations: Assistant Professor, Oxley College of Health Sciences (Dr Clutter), Professor (Dr Potter) and Graduate Student (Ms Alarbi), Department of Chemistry, The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Professor (Dr Caruso), University of Louisville, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Lynn B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Clutter
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Ahlam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alarbi
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Caruso
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013732:Test Anxiety Scale; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006854:Hydrocortisone