Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org Association between workaholism, vital exhaustion, and hair cortisol concentrations among teachers: A longitudinal study testing the moderation effect of neuroticism Alexander Wettstein 1 *, Sandra Schneider 1,2 , Gabriel Jenni 1 , Martin grosse Holtforth 2,3 , Wolfgang Tschacher 4 and Roberto La Marca 1,5,6 1 Department of Research and Development, University of Teacher Education Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 2 Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 3 Department of Neurology, Psychosomatic Medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland, 4 Experimental Psychology Division, University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 5 Centre for Stress-Related Disorders, Clinica Holistica Engiadina, Susch, Switzerland, 6 Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland Introduction: Workaholism in teachers is characterized by the willingness to work until exhausted and may be associated with various adverse health outcomes as well as high economic costs. The present study examines the association between workaholism, vital exhaustion (VE), and hair cortisol concentration (HCC) as indicators of chronic stress. In addition, this study explores the moderating role of the personality trait neuroticism on the relationship between workaholism and chronic stress indicators, i.e., VE and HCC. Methods: Forty-two Swiss teachers (28 females; M age = 39.66, SD = 11.99) completed questionnaires assessing VE (Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire), workaholism (Measure of Coping Capacity Questionnaire), and neuroticism (Big-Five Inventory). Together with VE, HCC was assessed twice, with a one year lag. Results: Both workaholism and neuroticism were positively associated with VE at both time points but not with HCC. Moderation analyses revealed a positive relationship between workaholism and VE in teachers with high neuroticism, while no such association was observed in teachers with low neuroticism. No associations were found between self-reports and HCC. Discussion: These findings emphasize the importance of considering individual characteristics when investigating VE. Further research is necessary to investigate the applicability of HCC as a biomarker of chronic stress in the context of work. KEYWORDS workaholism, neuroticism, hair cortisol, vital exhaustion, teacher stress TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 15 December 2022 DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1046573 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Changiz Mohiyeddini, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, United States REVIEWED BY Roger Hagen, University of Oslo, Norway Ferda Alper Ay, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Turkey Valentina Mihaela Ghinea, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Romania *CORRESPONDENCE Alexander Wettstein alexander.wettstein@phbern.ch SPECIALTY SECTION This article was submitted to Health Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology RECEIVED 10 October 2022 ACCEPTED 29 November 2022 PUBLISHED 15 December 2022 CITATION Wettstein A, Schneider S, Jenni G, Holtforth Mg, Tschacher W and La Marca R (2022) Association between workaholism, vital exhaustion, and hair cortisol concentrations among teachers: A longitudinal study testing the moderation effect of neuroticism. Front. Psychol. 13:1046573. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1046573 COPYRIGHT © 2022 Wettstein, Schneider, Jenni, Holtforth, Tschacher and La Marca. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.