Time Point 1 and 2 of Hair Cortisol
February 2025
TLDR Wage increases and cash benefits reduced stress in early childhood educators.
The study examined the relationship between early childhood educators' job characteristics and stress, focusing on hair cortisol levels at two time points (TP1 and TP2) during the 2021-2022 academic year. Initially designed as a natural experiment to assess the impact of planned wage increases on stress, the study shifted to an observational design due to historic inflation and COVID-19-related disruptions. Nearly all educators received wage increases and cash benefits between TP1 and TP2, providing a unique context for analyzing stress levels during this period. The dataset includes longitudinal data on hair cortisol, collected from August to November 2021.
