The Correlation Between Students’ Academic Workload and Salivary pH Levels

• Main Authors: Biscocho, Yves Zidane J., Carpio, Lorenzo Miguel S., Salceda, Giovanni Paolo C.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2024
• Subjects: academic stress; academic workload; biostatistics; saliva; salivary pH levels; stressors
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2024/paper_fnh/5; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/conf_shsrescon/article/2411/viewcontent/PP_FNH_Biscocho_Carpio_Salceda___Lorenzo_Miguel_Carpio.docx.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Stress has been known to have negative and positive effects on humans. Studies have shown that academic stress, which comes from overwhelming academic demands, causes various negative effects on the well-being of students. Salivary cortisol levels can also be a predictor of academic stress. Concurrently, salivary pH levels are affected by changes in the salivary cortisol, and it can be inferred that salivary pH levels can predict the increase in academic workloads. To prove this relationship between students’ academic workloads and salivary pH levels, the researchers conducted a study utilizing a prospective research design. The data was collected from sixteen Senior High School students studying at De La Salle University - Manila. The researchers conducted two collection phases, during the start and the midterms of the academic term. Academic workloads were measured as the number of hours spent on academic demands throughout the week, which was gathered through weekly logs. Salivary pH levels were measured by testing the collected saliva samples of the participants through a pH meter. The effects of the students’ academic workloads on their salivary pH levels were analyzed using Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient. Descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test were utilized to compare the data of the two collection periods. The researchers observed a significant increase in AW and SpH from the first collection to the second collection. However, in assessing the correlation between the two variables, a weak negative relationship during the first collection and an insignificant relationship during the second collection were found.