This article is authored by Corinna Regan and Danny Rahal
How do you feel when you have an upcoming deadline? Take a moment to think back to when you had an exam coming up in school. Most of us can remember that feeling of nervousness and dread leading up to a big exam, but some of us have a bigger response to these upcoming stressors than others. The Health Equity in Youth lab aimed to figure out what affects one’s emotional responses, why would someone have a higher emotional response than someone else, and how does this relate to socioeconomic status and emotional well-being before an exam? One aspect of emotional responses is the history of similar situations the individual has previously encountered. If the individual has already had a negative experience, they would likely have a negative reaction the next time they face the same experience (Carvalho et al., 2013). Therefore, if an individual has a history of negative experiences in a particular situation and someone else does not, the emotional responses of these individuals would differ (Wilson et al., 2001).
In this way, family socioeconomic status can fundamentally impact how people face and respond to stressful situations. For example, people of lower socioeconomic status often experience stressful situations more frequently and more intensely than people with higher socioeconomic status (Gard et al., 2023). If your car breaks down, you might be able to call a mechanic to take it to a shop and take the day off from work if you can, or call an Uber or Lyft to take you to work if you need to go in. Someone with lower income may not be able to take it to a mechanic, may be relying on the day’s income and therefore can’t skip work, and may not have the funds to pay someone to drive them for the day. Although this is a frustrating and upsetting situation either way, someone’s socioeconomic status might impact how they feel when this situation arises. Because people of lower socioeconomic status might be more impacted by stressors, they may also show a bigger emotional response when these stressors come up.
Work from the Health Equity in Youth Lab suggests that socioeconomic status can also impact how college students experience class exams, a common and important stressor for students’ academics. This project was a collaboration with a professor teaching a psychological statistics class, which had assessments every two weeks. Students reported their emotions the day before and shortly after two of the class assessments.
As expected, many of the students showed high levels of anxious and depressive mood the night before the exam but felt better after they completed their exam and saw their scores. However, this was not the case for all students. The results of this study indicated that students’ responses to the exam differed by their parents’ education. Students whose mothers had higher education did not show a change in their emotions between before and after the exam. Rather, their emotional well-being seemed unaffected by the exam. In contrast, students whose mothers had lower education tended to be the most reactive and showed higher levels of anxious and depressive mood the night before the exam than the students whose mothers had higher education. Lower parental education could be one indicator of low socioeconomic status, and a lack of resources may cause students to be more reactive to daily stressful experiences. These associations were primarily driven by students with lower scores on the exam, which suggests that students with mothers who pursued higher education received more preparation or had access to more resources to help them adjust to college exams.
Although emotionally responding to an exam is a healthy part of daily life, showing sustained emotional responses or feeling high levels of distress due to an exam could negatively impact one’s mental and even physical health. Experiencing chronic stress can increase one’s risk for a multitude of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, dementia, diabetes, and more. Emerging research suggests that individuals who tend to be more responsive to stress can show poorer health, most notably a higher chance of early mortality. Therefore, individuals should focus not only on their daily stressors but also on how they respond to them. Providing individuals with resources–regardless of their socioeconomic status–can support them in maintaining well-being and preserving their health. In the case of students, providing resources such as campus-wide tutoring and reducing the stress associated with exams may be one way of promoting equity for students and avoiding excessive stress for students with lower socioeconomic status.
References
- Carvalho, S., Dinis, A., Pinto‐Gouveia, J., & Estanqueiro, C. (2013). Memories of Shame Experiences with Others and Depression Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Experiential Avoidance. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 22(1), 32–44. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.1862
- Gard, H., Enskär, K., Ingvarsdotter, K., Isma, G. E., & Mangrio, E. (2023). Exploring young people’s experiences of race, gender and socioeconomic status in relation to everyday challenges: A focus group study. Children & Society, 38(1), 228–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12718
- Wilson, T. D., Meyers, J., & Gilbert, D. T. (2001). Lessons from the Past: Do People Learn from Experience that Emotional Reactions Are Short-Lived? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(12), 1648–1661. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672012712008