Longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying and psychological distress

Reciprocal relations between workplace bullying, anxiety, and vigor: a two-wave longitudinal study

“…A recent meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence shows that bullying was specially related to anxiety and depression (Nielsen & Einarsen, 2012). This pattern is supported by previous metaanalysis (Bowling & Beehr, 2006) and longitudinal research (Finne et al, 2011;Lahelma et al, 2012).…”

“…Workplace bullying has been classified as an extreme social stressor in work contexts, and has been repeatedly linked to several negative consequences for both individuals and organizations (for a meta-analysis, see Nielsen & Einarsen, 2012). For instance, Hauge, Skogstad, and Einarsen (2010), in a representative sample of the Norwegian working population, found that bullying was a significant predictor of several outcomes after controlling for the effect of other job stressors (job demands, decision authority, role ambiguity and role conflict).…”

“…Kivimäki, Elovainio, and Vahtera (2003) showed that bullying and depression mutually influence each other over time. More recently, Nielsen, Hetland, Matthiesen, and Einarsen (2012) found that workplace bullying leads to psychological distress, which, in turn, can contribute to even more bullying. However, a clear methodological limitation of these studies is that neither Kivimäki et al (2003) nor Nielsen et al (2012) carried out comparisons between causation models.…”

“…More recently, Nielsen, Hetland, Matthiesen, and Einarsen (2012) found that workplace bullying leads to psychological distress, which, in turn, can contribute to even more bullying. However, a clear methodological limitation of these studies is that neither Kivimäki et al (2003) nor Nielsen et al (2012) carried out comparisons between causation models. The rest of the longitudinal studies only explored normal cross-lagged effects of bullying and intentions to leave (Berthelsen, Skogstad, Lau, & Einarsen, 2011), sleep problems (Hansen, Hogh, Garde, & Persson, 2013), health (Hoobler, Rospenda, Lemmon, & Rosa, 2010), and mental distress (Finne, Knardahl, & Lau, 2011;Lahelma, Lallukka, Laaksonen, Saastamoinen, & Rahkonen, 2012).…”

“…Second, most of these investigations have used a two-year time lag (Berthelsen et al, 2011;Hansen et al, 2013;Kivimäki et al, 2003;Finne et al, 2011;Lahelma et al, 2012;Nielsen et al, 2012). In this sense, Finne et al (2011) have indicated that this time-lag is the most appropriate to detect the consequences of workplace bullying on mental health, because does not capture its short-term effects.…”