Abstract. Academic stress is associated with a wide range of adverse outcomes, including detrimental effects on mental health, achievement, and well-being. Numerous studies have shown an association between the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and various health and risk factors. Some studies revealed a protective function of the CAR as a stress buffer preventing the stress system from overshooting. We investigated the moderating effect of the CAR on the within-subject association between academic workload and academic stress in participants’ daily lives using ambulatory assessment. We assessed 77 undergraduate university participants for 2 days at the beginning of the semester and approximately 3 months later, individually starting one week before an exam. Participants provided academic stress and academic workload ratings hourly during their waking time using smartphone-based e-diaries and salivary cortisol samples at awakening as well as 30, 45, and 60 min later on two consecutive days during each of the assessment waves. Average within-subject associations between academic workload and academic stress were analyzed using multilevel models. Interactions with indicators of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) were included to test moderating effects of the CAR on the workload-stress associations. There was a significant positive within-subject association between academic workload and academic stress. Significant cross-level interactions showed a moderating effect of the CAR on this association. The results point out the importance of the CAR in the regulation of the workload-stress associations in academic life and underscore the relevance of investigating the influence of specific stressor-dependent reciprocal effects of the CAR on learning and experienced stress.

中文翻译：

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学术工作量在哪些情况下会导致压力？

摘要。学业压力与广泛的不良后果有关，包括对心理健康、成就和幸福感的不利影响。大量研究表明皮质醇觉醒反应 (CAR) 与各种健康和风险因素之间存在关联。一些研究揭示了 CAR 作为压力缓冲剂的保护功能，可防止压力系统过冲。我们使用动态评估调查了 CAR 对参与者日常生活中学业工作量和学业压力之间的学科内关联的调节作用。我们在学期开始时对 77 名大学本科生进行了为期 2 天的评估，大约 3 个月后，分别在考试前一周开始评估。参与者在醒来时每小时使用基于智能手机的电子日记和唾液皮质醇样本，以及在每次评估波中连续两天后的 30、45 和 60 分钟，提供学业压力和学业工作量评分。使用多层次模型分析了学术工作量和学术压力之间的平均学科内关联。包括与皮质醇觉醒反应 (CAR) 指标的相互作用，以测试 CAR 对工作负荷-压力关联的调节作用。学业工作量和学业压力之间存在显着的学科内关联。显着的跨层次交互显示了 CAR 对这种关联的调节作用。