Comparative thinking among university students: an ecological momentary assessment of upward comparisons, stress and learning behavior during exam preparation

Studying for exams can be a stressful time. Uncertainty and stress often reach their peak during exam preparation, as students frequently grapple with feelings of inadequacy and anxiety regarding their academic performance. To assess their exam readiness, students can use social, temporal, criteria-based, and counterfactual comparisons. Engaging in upward comparative thinking during exam preparation may increase students' stress levels. However, previous studies have not examined whether students' daily comparisons related to exam preparation are associated with their stress, negative mood, and learning behavior. Therefore, we used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to capture daily frequency and affective impact of upward comparisons and their influence on stress, negative mood, and self-reported learning behavior among 170 psychology students at a German University. During an eleven-day EMA-phase leading up to exams, participants completed brief surveys three times daily, supplemented by baseline and follow-up assessments. Multilevel models revealed that both between-person and within-person upward comparison frequency correlated positively with stress and negative mood over time. A more negative comparison affective impact mediated the within-person associations of comparison frequency with stress and negative mood. A more negative comparison affective impact also predicted more self-reported avoidant learning behavior, both between-person and within-person. Comparison also influenced depression, test anxiety, and burnout at follow-up. The findings may have implications for designing well-being interventions during periods of performance-related pressure.