{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T16:57:18Z","timestamp":1781197038313,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Massage Therapy Foundation","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781136000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int J Ther Massage Bodywork"],"abstract":"<jats:p>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.\nPurpose: This study explored the effect of massage therapy (MT) in reducing overall and test anxiety in traditional-aged undergraduate business students com-pared to a comparison group engaged in a relaxation activity (adult coloring).\nSetting: A private liberal arts university in the southeastern United States.\nParticipants: Undergraduate business students (aged 18\u201323 years) enrolled in accounting, business administration, finance, economics, or marketing.\nResearch Design: Quantitative, quasi-experimental, repeated-measures design with both within-subjects (pre\u2013post) and between-subjects (MT vs. adult coloring) evaluations.\nIntervention: 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.\nMain Outcome Measure: Anxiety levels were assessed pre- and post-intervention with the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale\u2014College Version (AMAS-C).\nResults: MT significantly reduced overall anxiety (mean (M) = 58.79 to 51.68, t(37) = 4.103, p &lt; 0.001, Cohen\u2019s d = 0.666) and test anxiety (M = 59.29 to 55.24, t(37) = 2.623, p = 0.013, Cohen\u2019s d = 0.426). Analyses of variance confirmed significant main effects of MT on overall anxiety (\u03b72 = 0.314, p &lt; 0.001) and test anxiety (\u03b72 = 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.\nConclusion: 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.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3822\/ijtmb.v19i2.1151","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T16:00:14Z","timestamp":1781193614000},"page":"14-26","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Effect of Massage Therapy on Anxiety Levels Experienced by Traditional-Aged Undergraduate Business Students"],"prefix":"10.3822","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Jorge A.","family":"Pazmi\u00f1o","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Portia B.","family":"Resnick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2156","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]},"container-title":["International Journal of Therapeutic Massage &amp; Bodywork"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/ijtmb.org\/index.php\/ijtmb\/article\/download\/1151\/1471","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ijtmb.org\/index.php\/ijtmb\/article\/download\/1151\/1491","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ijtmb.org\/index.php\/ijtmb\/article\/download\/1151\/1501","content-type":"text\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ijtmb.org\/index.php\/ijtmb\/article\/download\/1151\/1471","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T16:00:14Z","timestamp":1781193614000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/ijtmb.org\/index.php\/ijtmb\/article\/view\/1151"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3822\/ijtmb.v19i2.1151","relation":{},"ISSN":["1916-257X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1916-257X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]}}}