Maria Gullander

Exposure to Workplace Bullying and Risk of Depression

Objective: We examined the prospective association between self-labeled and witness-reported bullying and the risk of newly onset of depression. Methods: Employees were recruited from two cohorts of 3196 and 2002 employees, respectively. Participants received a questionnaire at baseline in 2006 to 2007 with follow-up in 2008 to 2009 and 2011. New cases of depression were diagnosed in the follow-up using Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interviews and the Major Depression Inventory questionnaire. Results: We identified 147 new cases of depression. The odds ratio for newly onset depression among participants reporting bullying occasionally was 2.17 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11 to 4.23) and among frequently bullied 9.63 (95% CI: 3.42 to 27.1). There was no association between percentage witnessing bullying and newly onset depression. Conclusions: Frequent self-labeled bullying predicts development of depression but a work environment with high proportion of employees witnessing bullying does not.

Negative Acts at Work as Potential Bullying Behavior and Depression: Examining the Direction of the Association in a 2-Year Follow-Up Study.

Objective: This study investigates the 2-year prospective association between exposure to negative acts at work and depression. Methods: A questionnaire study was carried out among 3363 employees and followed up 2 years later. Negative acts as potential bullying behavior were assessed by the Revised Negative Acts Questionnaire and depression by The Major Depression Inventory or Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interviews. Logistic regression analyses tested potential associations between depression and negative acts. Results: Exposure to negative acts was associated with depression 2 years later; however, when adjusting for Sense of Coherence and depressive symptoms at baseline the association was no longer significant. Conversely, depression at baseline predicted self-reported exposure to negative acts at follow-up. Conclusions: Depression predicts exposure to negative acts at a 2-year follow-up, whereas negative acts do not predict depression after adjustment for Sense of Coherence and baseline depressive symptoms.

Are changes in workplace bullying status related to changes in salivary cortisol? A longitudinal study among Danish employees

OBJECTIVES This study aims to investigate whether incident workplace bullying and its dicontinuance is related to subsequent change in morning and evening saliva cortisol concentrations. METHODS Participants came from two Danish cohort studies, the PRISME cohort (n=4489) and the Workplace Bullying and Harassment Cohort (n=3707). At baseline and follow-up exposure to bullying was measured by a single question on bullying (preceded by a definition). Two saliva samples to measure cortisol were collected during a work-day (30 min after awakening and at 8 p.m.). All participants responding to the item on workplace bullying, giving saliva samples and participated at both baseline and follow-up were included. The reference group consisted of non-bullied respondents at both baseline and follow-up. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions were used to test for changes in salivary cortisol after newly onset of and discontinuance of workplace bullying. All analyses were adjusted for the potentially confounding effect of differences from baseline to follow-up in education, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, cohort, sampling waves, time of awakening, and time of sampling. RESULTS We found no indication of statistically significant difference in saliva cortisol, neither when participants changed their self-labelling from not bullied at baseline to being bullied at follow-up, nor when they at follow-up two years later reported discontinuance of bullying. CONCLUSION This longitudinal study on the impact of changes in bullying status on change in cortisol levels showed consistent lack of associations with onset and discontinuance of workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying, sleep problems and leisure-time physical activity: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES Workplace bullying is a potent stressor that may increase sleep problems. Since physical fitness improves resilience to stress, it seems plausible that recreational physical activities may moderate the association between bullying and sleep. The study aimed to examine prospectively whether (i) bullying increases the risk of sleep problems, and (ii) the association between bullying and sleep problems is moderated by leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). METHODS The study sample comprised a cohort of public and private sector employees, who were enrolled into the Work Bullying and Harassment (WBH) cohort (N=3278) or the Psychosocial Risk Factors for Stress and Mental Disease (PRISME) cohort (N=4455). We measured workplace bullying using one question that was preceded by a definition of bullying. We used the Karolinska sleep questionnaire to assess sleep problems. The number of hours per week spent on LTPA estimated the degree of physical activity. RESULTS Workplace bullying at baseline (T1) was associated with awakening problems and lack of restful sleep at follow-up (T2) but not with overall sleep problems and disturbed sleep. T1-LTPA did not moderate the association between T1-workplace bullying and T2-sleep problems. CONCLUSION We found support that workplace bullying is related to development of T2-sleep problems, but this association seems not to be modified by LTPA.

Relationship Between Changes in Workplace Bullying Status and the Reporting of Personality Characteristics

Objective: To examine whether a shift in work-related bullying status, from being non-bullied to being bullied or vice versa, was associated with changes in reporting of personality characteristics. Methods: Data on bullying and personality (neuroticism, extraversion, and sense of coherence) were collected in three waves approximately 2 years apart (N = 4947). Using a within-subjects design, personality change scores that followed altered bullying status were evaluated with one-sample t tests. Sensitivity analyses targeted depressive symptoms. Results: Shifts from non-bullied to frequently bullied were associated with increased neuroticism or decreased sense of coherence manageability scores. Shifts from bullied to non-bullied were associated with decreasing neuroticism and increasing extraversion scores, or increasing sense of coherence meaningfulness and comprehensibility scores. Excluding depressive cases had minor effects. Conclusions: Bullying seems to some extent to affect personality scale scores, which thus seem sensitive to environmental and social circumstances.

Assessment of psychosocial exposure: how to escape the triviality trap?

Objectives Workplace bullying may be a strong determinant of major depression, but only a few studies provide prospective data and none provide independent information on bullying. In a follow-up study we analysed newly-onset depression in relation to workplace bullying measured at the individual level (perceived bullying) and at the work-unit level (witnesses reporting bullying). Methods Danish employees were recruited from two Danish cohorts of 3.743 and 2.617 workers, respectively. Cohort members received a questionnaire at baseline in 2006–07 with two-wave follow-ups in 2008–09 and 2011. Workplace bullying was measured by self-labelling and by the proportion of employees in a work unit who had witnessed workplace bullying “now and again” to “daily” over the past 6 months. For the latter purpose all participants were identified with their work-unit (471 work units, number of employees ranging between 1 and 161). The work-units were grouped according to the proportion of employees. who had witnessed workplace bullying within their work units. New cases of depression were diagnosed at the end of two-year follow-up periods using Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) interviews and the Major Depression Inventory questionnaire. Results During the follow-up period, we identified 177 new cases of depression. The odds ratio for newly-onset depression among participants reporting bullying occasionally was 1.62 [95% CI 0.95–2.77] and among those reporting bullying often it was 5.73 [95% CI 2.37–13.90]. The risk of newly-onset depression by percentage of employees witnessing bullying in work-units was for 1–20%: 0.83 [95% CI 0.48–1.43], 21–30%: 0.87 [95% CI 0.49–1.55], and >30%: 1.08 [95% CI 0.61–1.90]. Conclusions Self-reported frequent bullying predicts development of depression but a work environment defined by witnesses of bullying does not. These findings have implications for the understanding of workplace bullying and options for preventive actions.