BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Movement Science
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1597839
This article is part of the Research TopicTowards a Psychophysiological Approach in Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sports-Volume VView all 10 articles
Evaluating acute stress responses to height: validity of heart rate variability, respiratory markers, and competitive state anxiety inventory
Provisionally accepted
- 1Charles University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Prague, Czechia
- 2University of Essex, Colchester, East of England, United Kingdom
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Despite the widespread use of height exposure in adventure-based programs to foster resilience, effectiveness has largely been evaluated through self-reported measures, with limited objective psychophysiological assessments. This study aimed to identify which physiological stress markers best determine the acute stress response to height. A secondary aim was to assess the concurrent validity of the CSAI-2R questionnaire with ventilatory and heart rate variability (HRV) markers. Fifty-five healthy university students participated in a controlled experiment involving three walks on a log at varying heights (0.3 m and 10.5 m).Psychometric measures were recorded using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised, while physiological responses were monitored through HRV and respiratory markers. High obstacle conditions significantly increased somatic (↑6.1±5.7; P<0.01) and cognitive anxiety (↑2.9±5.9; P < 0.01), while reducing selfconfidence (↓3.0±5.6; P<0.01). Based on the effect size (ηp 2 ) the largest differences between low-and high-height conditions for physiological markers were observed in heart rate (ηp 2 = 0.910), ventilation (ηp 2 =0.906), oxygen uptake (ηp 2 =0.891 P<0.001), and tidal volume (ηp 2 =0.872). Smaller differences were found for HRV markers: parasympathetic nervous system index (ηp 2 =0.860), sympathetic nervous system index (ηp 2 =0.798). Notably, weak correlations were observed between physiological markers and self-reported anxiety measures (R= -0.454 to 0.323), raising questions about the psychometric tools' concurrent validity. Findings suggest that while height exposure induces a pronounced stress response, the combination of HR and respiratory measures with psychological tools provides a more comprehensive understanding of stress coping during height exposure.
Keywords: Ropes course, CSAI-2R oxygen consumption, Respiration, metabolic cost, height
Received: 21 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Psohlavec, Rogerson, Brtník and Baláš. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lukáš Psohlavec, Charles University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Prague, Czechia
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