TY - JOUR

T1 - Health correlates of workplace bullying

T2 - a 3-wave prospective follow-up study

AU - Bonde, Jens Peter

AU - Gullander, Maria

AU - Hansen, Åse Marie

AU - Grynderup, Matias

AU - Persson, Roger

AU - Hogh, Annie

AU - Willert, Morten Vejs

AU - Kaerlev, Linda

AU - Rugulies, Reiner

AU - Kolstad, Henrik A

PY - 2016/1/1

Y1 - 2016/1/1

N2 - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the course of workplace bullying and health correlates among Danish employees across a four-year period.METHODS: In total, 7502 public service and private sector employees participated in a 3-wave study from 2006 through 2011. Workplace bullying over the past 6-12 months and data on health characteristics were obtained by self-reports. We identified major depression using Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interviews and the Major Depression Inventory. We performed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of outcomes according to self-labelled bullying at baseline using logistic regression.RESULTS: Reports of bullying were persistent across four years in 22.2% (57/257) of employees who initially reported bullying. Baseline associations between self-labelled bullying and sick-listing, poor self-rated health, poor sleep, and depressive symptoms were significant with adjusted odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.8 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.5-2.4] for poor sleep quality among those bullied "now and then" to 6.9 (95% CI 3.9-12.3) for depression among those reporting being bullied on a daily to monthly basis. In longitudinal analyses adjusting for bullying during follow-up, all health correlates except poor sleep quality persisted up to four years.CONCLUSION: Self-reported health correlates of workplace bullying including sick-listing, poor self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and a diagnosis of depression tend to persist for several years regardless of whether bullying is discontinued or not. Independent measures of bullying and outcomes are needed to learn whether these findings reflect long lasting health consequences of workplace bullying or whether self-labelled workplace bullying and health complaints are correlated because of common underlying factors.

AB - OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the course of workplace bullying and health correlates among Danish employees across a four-year period.METHODS: In total, 7502 public service and private sector employees participated in a 3-wave study from 2006 through 2011. Workplace bullying over the past 6-12 months and data on health characteristics were obtained by self-reports. We identified major depression using Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interviews and the Major Depression Inventory. We performed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of outcomes according to self-labelled bullying at baseline using logistic regression.RESULTS: Reports of bullying were persistent across four years in 22.2% (57/257) of employees who initially reported bullying. Baseline associations between self-labelled bullying and sick-listing, poor self-rated health, poor sleep, and depressive symptoms were significant with adjusted odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.8 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.5-2.4] for poor sleep quality among those bullied "now and then" to 6.9 (95% CI 3.9-12.3) for depression among those reporting being bullied on a daily to monthly basis. In longitudinal analyses adjusting for bullying during follow-up, all health correlates except poor sleep quality persisted up to four years.CONCLUSION: Self-reported health correlates of workplace bullying including sick-listing, poor self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and a diagnosis of depression tend to persist for several years regardless of whether bullying is discontinued or not. Independent measures of bullying and outcomes are needed to learn whether these findings reflect long lasting health consequences of workplace bullying or whether self-labelled workplace bullying and health complaints are correlated because of common underlying factors.

U2 - 10.5271/sjweh.3539

DO - 10.5271/sjweh.3539

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26645744

VL - 42

SP - 17

EP - 25

JO - Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health

JF - Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health

SN - 0355-3140

IS - 1

ER -