Comparison of human hair cortisol concentration stability for 1-year and 2-year test-retest intervals.

Human hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has previously been found to be highly stable for a 1-year interval (r = 0.73) in terms of a product-moment correlation. The present study aimed to replicate this finding and compare HCC stability regarding 1-year and 2-year test-retest intervals. Female university students (N = 39) provided hair strands twice (t1 and t2) at intervals of 1 (n = 21) or 2 years (n = 18). Multiple regression analysis predicting HCC at t2 revealed a significant interaction term (HCC at t1 × time interval condition). It was determined that HCCs were substantially related for the 1-year interval but unrelated for the 2-year interval. The findings were not attributable to potential influences, such as hair treatment. The product-moment correlation showed nearly identical consistency with previous research regarding the 1-year test-retest interval. There was no significant product-moment correlation for the 2-year interval. Overall, these findings indicate that within a temporal framework of 1 year, HCCs may be stable predictors in correlational studies where the focus is on the rank orders of measured values.

Autistic Traits Predict Social-Contact Uncertainty in University Students.

Social anxiety (alternatively: social-contact uncertainty) in the university context can lead to reduced health, well-being, and performance, and can even cause premature leaving of education. With the present study, we intended to supplement cross-sectional studies on students' autistic traits and social anxiety with longitudinal findings. We measured autistic traits and social-contact uncertainty of 118 university students on two occasions, roughly 1 year apart. Correlation, multiple regression, and cross-lagged analyses showed that more pronounced autistic traits predicted higher future social-contact uncertainty. Social-contact uncertainty did not predict autistic traits. We conclude that university students who are high in autistic traits tend not only to be more socially anxious at the moment but have a heightened risk of still being so in the future.

Test Anxiety in Autistic University Students-Preliminary Results from a German-Speaking Sample.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition associated with increased levels of anxiety. However, whether autism is related to heightened test anxiety as one situation-specific type of anxiety has not yet been examined. This question may be relevant for the achievement and well-being of autistic people in educational settings (e.g., at universities). In this study, we took a first step to investigate whether autistic university students have increased test anxiety. A sample of 16 German-speaking university students completed an established diagnostic instrument to measure test anxiety and its components of worry, emotionality, cognitive interference, and lack of confidence. The scores of the autistic students were compared with the test anxiety means and percentile ranks of the standardization sample for the applied test anxiety measure (n = 1350). For an additional comparison, the test anxiety means and percentile ranks of non-autistic university students (n = 101) were assessed during the last third of the semester; that is, close to the examinations. Overall, the results suggest that autistic university students have remarkably increased test anxiety. Although the present findings must be considered preliminary, they suggest that text anxiety in educational settings may be a neglected significant problem for autistic people that requires further attention in research and practice.