Academic Self-efficacy and Perceived Stress Considering Social Comparison and Corresponding Cortisol Levels
Main Article Content
Abstract
Academic self-efficacy has been shown to have a significant correlation to success in college students. Additionally, research has indicated that academic success plays a large role in stress levels experienced by college students. Social comparison has been posited as a significant contributor to academic experiences as it is correlated to both the goals students set and their perceived ability to achieve them. Research suggests that academic self-efficacy and social comparison both contribute to student experience, to our knowledge, no studies exist that explore the influence of social comparison on this relationship. Research has also reported inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between perceived stress and biomarkers of stress. This exploratory study (conducted November 2019 - March 2020; March 2022 - April 2022, N = 69) was primarily aimed at exploring the possible moderating effect of social comparison on the relationship between academic self-efficacy and stress levels. The secondary goal was to further explore the relationship between perceived stress and biological levels of stress as measured by cortisol levels in college students. Findings suggest that academic self-efficacy and social comparison are both highly correlated to one another and perceived stress; however, social comparison does not moderate the relationship between academic self-efficacy and perceived stress. The correlation between perceived and biological levels of stress was dependent on the formula by which the diurnal curve of cortisol was examined and was therefore inconsistently significant.
Keywords:
academic self-efficacy, perceived stress, cortisol, social comparison, undergraduate college students
Article Details
How to Cite
ESTACIO, Samantha M. et al.
Academic Self-efficacy and Perceived Stress Considering Social Comparison and Corresponding Cortisol Levels.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 14, n. 6, july 2026.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/7666>. Date accessed: 22 july 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.2026.0345.
Keywords
academic self-efficacy, perceived stress, cortisol, social comparison, undergraduate college students
Section
Research Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
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2. Khan M. Academic self-efficacy, coping, and academic performance in college. Int J Undergrad Res Creat Act. 2023;5(1):Article 3. doi:10.7710/2168-0620.1006.
3. Pedersen DE, Jodin V. Stressors associated with the school spillover of college undergraduates. Soc Sci J. 2016;53(1):40-48. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2014.12.008.
4. Byars-Winston A, Diestelmann J, Savoy JN, Hoyt WT. Unique effects and moderators of effects of sources on self-efficacy: a model-based meta-analysis. J Couns Psychol. 2017;64(6):645-658. doi:10.1037/cou0000219.
5. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychol Rev. 1977;84(2):191-215. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191.
6. Bandura A. Human agency in social cognitive theory. Am Psychol. 1989;44(9):1175-1184. doi:10.1037/ 0003-066X.44.9.1175.
7. Schunk DH, Pajares F. The development of academic self-efficacy. In: Wigfield A, Eccles JS, eds. Development of Achievement Motivation. Academic Press; 2002:15-31. doi:10.1016/B978-012750053-9/50003-6
8. Huang C. Gender differences in academic self-efficacy: a meta-analysis. Eur J Psychol Educ. 2013;28(1):1-35. doi:10.1007/s10212-011-0097-y.
9. Multon KD, Brown SD, Lent RW. Relation of self-efficacy beliefs to academic outcomes: a meta-analytic investigation. J Couns Psychol. 1991;38(1):30-38. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.38.1.30.
10. Komarraju M, Nadler D. Self-efficacy and academic achievement: why do implicit beliefs, goals, and effort regulation matter? Learn Individ Differ. 2013;25:67-72. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.005.
11. Musa M. Academic self-efficacy and academic performance among university undergraduate students: an antecedent to academic success. Eur J Educ Stud. 2020. doi:10.46827/ejes.v0i0.3005.
12. Honicke T, Broadbent J. The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: a systematic review. Educ Res Rev. 2016;17:63-84. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2015.11.002.
13. Micari M, Drane D. Intimidation in small learning groups: the roles of social-comparison concern, comfort, and individual characteristics in student academic outcomes. Active Learn High Educ. 2011;12(3): 175-187. doi:10.1177/1469787411415078.
14. Matz DC, Hinsz VB. Social comparison in the setting of goals for own and others’ performance. J Bus Psychol. 2000;14(4):563-572. doi:10.1023/A:1022934129094.
15. Carmona C, Buunk AP, Dijkstra A, Peiró JM. The relationship between goal orientation, social comparison responses, self-efficacy, and performance. Eur Psychol. 2008;13(3):188-196. doi:10.1027/1016-9040.13.3.188.
16. Lavoie JAA, Douglas KS. The Perceived Stress Scale: evaluating configural, metric and scalar invariance across mental health status and gender. J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2012;34(1):48-57. doi:10.1007/ s10862-011-9266-1.
17. Feldt RC, Koch C. Reliability and construct validity of the College Student Stress Scale. Psychol Rep. 2011;108(2):660-666. doi:10.2466/02.08.13.16.PR0.108.2.660-666.
18. Vaez M, Kristenson M, Laflamme L. Perceived quality of life and self-rated health among first-year university students: a comparison with their working peers. Soc Indic Res. 2004;68(2):221-234. doi:10.1023/B:SOCI.0000025594.76886.56.
19. Denovan A, MacAskill A. Stress and subjective well-being among first-year UK undergraduate students. J Happiness Stud. 2017;18(2):505-525. doi:10.1007/s10902-016-9736-y.
20. Weekes N, Lewis R, Patel F, et al. Examination stress as an ecological inducer of cortisol and psychological responses to stress in undergraduate students. Stress. 2006;9(4):199-206. doi:10.1080/ 10253890601029751.
21. Murphy L, Denis R, Ward CP, Tartar JL. Academic stress differentially influences perceived stress, salivary cortisol, and immunoglobulin-A in undergraduate students. Stress. 2010;13(4):366-371. doi:10.3109 /10253891003615473.
22. Sampasivam S, Collins KA, Bielajew C, Clément R. Intergroup threat and the linguistic intergroup bias: a stress biomarker study. J Lang Soc Psychol. 2018;37(6):632-655. doi:10.1177/0261927X18799807.
23. Cleveland Clinic. Cortisol. 2025. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol.
24. Hruschka DJ, Kohrt BA, Worthman CM. Estimating between- and within-individual variation in cortisol levels using multilevel models. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005;30(7):698-714. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.03.002.
25. Al Habobe H, Haverkort EB, Nazmi K, et al. The impact of saliva collection methods on measured salivary biomarker levels. Clin Chim Acta. 2024;52:117628. doi:10.1016/j.cca.2023.117628.
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27. Wei F, Patel P, Liao W, et al. Electrochemical sensor for multiplex biomarkers detection. Clin Cancer Res. 2009;15(13):4446-4452. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-09-0050.
28. Yeh CK, Christodoulides NJ, Floriano PN, et al. Current development of saliva/oral fluid-based diagnostics. Tex Dent J. 2010;127(7):651-661.
29. Al Sarhan M, Al Jasser R, Al Oraini S, et al. Relationship of self-perceived stress and expression of salivary cortisol in relation to gender and academic levels among dental students. Open Dent J. 2024;18:e18742106282255. doi:10.2174/0118742106282255240209065804.
30. Bolos O, Bolchis V, Dumitrescu R, et al. Salivary cortisol and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) as biomarkers of stress in dental medicine students: a pilot study. Medicina (Kaunas). 2024;60(12):1972. doi:10.3390/medicina60121972.
31. Han W, Altalbe A, Rehman N, et al. Exploring the longitudinal impacts of academic stress and lifestyle factors among Chinese students. J Pharm Policy Pract. 2024;17(1). doi:10.1080/20523211.2024.2398706.
32. Sasser J, Doane LD, Su J, Grimm KJ. Stress and diurnal cortisol among Latino/a college students: a multi-risk model approach. Dev Psychopathol. 2023;36(2):719-735. doi:10.1017/S0954579423000019.
33. Salimetrics LLC. Saliva collection and handling advice. 3rd ed. State College, PA; 2015.
34. Micari M, Drane D. Academic Intimidation and Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. PsycTESTS. 2011. https://doi.org/10.1037/t34893-000.
35. Feldt RC. College Student Stress Scale. PsycTESTS. 2008. https://doi.org/10.1037/t07526-000 .
36. Feldt RC. Development of a brief measure of college stress: the College Student Stress Scale. Psychol Rep. 2008;102(3):855-860. doi:10.2466/pr0.102.3.855-860.
37. Pruessner JC, Kirschbaum C, Meinlschmid G, Hellhammer DH. Two formulas for computation of the area under the curve represent measures of total hormone concentration versus time-dependent change. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2003;28(7):916-931. doi:10.1016/S0306-4530(02)00108-7.
38. Hayes AF. Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. Guilford Press; 2017.
39. Al-Qadri AH, Mouas S, Saraa N, Boudouaia A. Measuring academic self-efficacy and learning outcomes: the mediating role of university English students’ academic commitment. Asian-Pac J Second Foreign Lang Educ. 2024;9(1):35. doi:10.1186/s40862-024-00253-5.