Dataset: Salivary cortisol responses to academic stress in university students following a dog-assisted intervention

This dataset contains anonymized salivary cortisol data collected from university students participating in a quasi-experimental study examining physiological stress responses under academic examination conditions. Salivary cortisol samples were collected at six time points across the day under two conditions: a regular academic day and a day preceding an academic examination. The dataset includes cortisol awakening response (CAR), and area under the curve (AUC), for experimental and control groups. The dataset supports the manuscript: “Academic stress and salivary cortisol dynamics in university students: Differential response patterns associated with a dog-assisted intervention.” DOI manuscript: pending publication.