Emotional competence buffers the effect of workload on hair cortisol.

Emotional Competence (EC; also called “emotional intelligence” EI) refers to individual differences in the identification, understanding, expression, regulation and use of one’s and others’ emotions. Previous studies have shown that EC moderates subjective responses (e.g., mood deterioration, emotional intensity, action tendencies, bodily sensations) to both natural and laboratory stressors. EC has also been found to be a significant moderator of the biological (i.e., cortisol) response to laboratory stressors. The present study aims to extend these results by investigating if the level of EC (1) predicts the chronic level of activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and (2) moderates the effect of a chronic stressor such as workload on the HPA axis. Chronic activation was assessed through hair cortisol, which provides an indicator of the stress accumulated over the last three months. Results revealed that, as expected, higher EC is associated to lower HPA axis chronic activation (i.e., lower hair cortisol). These results hold when controlling for neuroticism and objectives stressors encountered during the last three months. Finally, and most importantly, EC strongly moderates the effect of workload on the chronic activation of HPA axis (i.e., hair cortisol). Therefore, we argue that EC deserves greater interest and attention from health professionals and companies.