The Effect of Massage Therapy on Anxiety Levels Experienced by Traditional-Aged Undergraduate Business Students.

BACKGROUND

Anxiety is a prevalent concern among college students, impairing academic performance and increasing attrition risk for universities. Effective interventions are needed to reduce overall and test anxiety during high-stakes assessments.

PURPOSE: This study explored the effect of massage therapy (MT) in reducing overall and test anxiety in traditional-aged undergraduate business students compared to a comparison group engaged in a relaxation activity (adult coloring).

SETTING

A private liberal arts university in the southeastern United States.

PARTICIPANTS

Undergraduate business students (aged 18-23 years) enrolled in accounting, business administration, finance, economics, or marketing.

RESEARCH

DESIGN

Quantitative, quasi-experimental, repeated-measures design with both within-subjects (pre-post) and between-subjects (MT vs. adult coloring) evaluations.

INTERVENTION: The experimental group received a 30-min MT session administered by a licensed massage therapist 2 h prior to a final exam. The comparison group engaged in a 30-min adult coloring activity.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Anxiety levels were assessed pre- and post-intervention with the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-College Version (AMAS-C).

RESULTS

MT significantly reduced overall anxiety (mean (M) = 58.79 to 51.68, t(37) = 4.103, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.666) and test anxiety (M = 59.29 to 55.24, t(37) = 2.623, p = 0.013, Cohen's d = 0.426). Analyses of variance confirmed significant main effects of MT on overall anxiety (η 2 = 0.314, p < 0.001) and test anxiety (η 2 = 0.155, p = 0.015), unaffected by sex at birth or academic classification. Between-group differences with the comparison activity were not statistically significant (p = 0.114), though MT showed a small-to-moderate effect size.

CONCLUSION

A 30-min MT intervention effectively reduced overall and test anxiety among traditional-aged undergraduate business students when administered within a 2-h window prior to a final exam. MT demonstrates promise as a non-pharmacological strategy to support students during high-stakes academic assessments.