Correlation of emotional labor and cortisol concentration in hair among female kindergarten teachers.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore whether two types of emotional labor, surface acting and deep acting, are related to hair cortisol concentration among kindergarten teachers.


METHODS
Surface acting and deep acting over the last month were measured with the Chinese version of the emotional labor scale in 43 kindergarten teachers. Hair samples with 1 cm in length were cut from their posterior vertex region to represent cortisol excretion over one month. Cortisol concentrations were analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.


RESULTS
Positive association of emotion labor with hair cortisol concentration was significant for surface acting (r = 0.34, p < 0.05) and not significant for deep acting (r = 0.14, p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
More surface acting showed to be associated stronger with stress responses or higher HPA axis activity.
Hangzhou College of Preschool Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, 210012, China. qxl@zjnu.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, and Institute of Child Development and Education, Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China. qxl@zjnu.edu.cn.
Xingliang
X
Qi
Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, and Institute of Child Development and Education, Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
Shuang
S
Ji
Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, and Institute of Child Development and Education, Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
Jing
J
Zhang
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
Wanyong
W
Lu
Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22700, 1100 DE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Judith K
JK
Sluiter
Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, and Institute of Child Development and Education, 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.
Huihua
H
Deng
D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D000070777:School Teachers / Q000523:psychology*; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology*; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
D006854:Hydrocortisone
Deep acting; Emotional labor; Hair cortisol; Occupational stress; Surface acting