title: Relationship between effort-reward imbalance and hair cortisol concentration in female kindergarten teachers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study aims to investigate the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and hair cortisol concentration among teachers to examine whether hair cortisol can be a biomarker of chronic work stress.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hair samples were collected from 39 female teachers from three kindergartens. Cortisol was extracted from the hair samples with methanol, and cortisol concentrations were measured with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Work stress was measured using the effort-reward imbalance scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ratio of effort to reward showed significantly positive association with hair cortisol concentration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cortisol concentration in the system increases with the effort-reward imbalance. Measurement of hair cortisol can become a useful biomarker of chronic work stress.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Xingliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Yapeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, P.O. Box 22700, 1100 DE Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Judith K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Sluiter
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: dengrcls@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Huihua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D012201:Reward; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Effort–reward imbalance; Hair cortisol concentration; Work characteristics; Work stress