Question

In an article entitled "The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome and the Potential Downfall of American Society," Biology professor Mike Adams provides evidence that "A student's grandmother is far more likely to die suddenly just before the student takes an exam, than at any other time of the year." After the data, he reports "Only one conclusion can be drawn from these data. Family members literally worry themselves to death over the outcome of their relatives' performance on each exam." He elaborates that the worry causes high blood pressure, resulting in fatal strokes and heart attacks.

For each question, choose the term that makes the statement true.

Prof. Adams has a predictive model in which exams cause grandmothers to worry, which in turn causes grandmother to die. In such a model, ___________________ is a mediating variable.

Answer 1

In the study by Prof. Mike Adams, the mediating variable is the grandmother's worry, which links exam stress to adverse cardiovascular health outcomes.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the model presented by Professor Mike Adams regarding the Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome, the mediating variable would be the grandmother's worry about the student's exam performance. Worry about the exam leads to high blood pressure in grandmothers, which can result in fatal strokes and heart attacks, thus being a link between the initial exam stress and the eventual health outcome. This hypothesis integrates the concept that psychological stress can have significant impacts on cardiovascular health, as supported by the research linking various stressors to hypertension and other heart-related issues.