| FLOYD HAYES |
| HAYES, F. E., A. P. Ramsey, C. Persaud, and A. A. Scobie. 2000. Symptoms of stress in primary school students studying for the Common Entrance Examination in Trinidad, West Indies. Caribbean Medical Journal 62:24-31. Abstract.--The Common Entrance Examination (CEE) is a one-day exam which must be "passed" by a primary school child before gaining placement into a secondary school in many Commonwealth countries. We studied the incidence of 11 potential symptoms of stress in 129 standard five (S5) students writing the CEE and 125 standard four (S4) students not writing the CEE in four primary schools of Trinidad. Each student was interviewed twice: 23-27 days prior to the CEE and 32-46 days afterward. We predicted that S5 students would experience a higher incidence of stress symptoms than S4 students, particularly before the CEE. However, only one significant difference was found: more S4 students reported feelings of anger prior to the CEE than did S5 students. Furthermore, the number of symptoms per student did not differ between students in S4 and S5 either before or after the CEE. We also predicted that S5 students would experience more symptoms of stress before the CEE (i.e., while studying) than afterward. However, S5 students reported a higher incidence of only one symptom (depression or fear of failing) before the CEE than afterward. S4 students reported a higher incidence of upset stomach and anger before the CEE than afterward. Furthermore, the number of symptoms reported by S5 students did not differ before or after the CEE; in contrast, S4 students reported more symptoms before the CEE than afterward. In conclusion, students writing the CEE did not report a higher incidence of potential stress symptoms than students not writing the CEE. |
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