Citation

Persson R, Hgh A, Grynderup MB, Willert MV, Gullander M, Hansen AM, Kolstad HA, Mors O, Mikkelsen EG, Kristensen AS, Kaerlev L, Rugulies R, Bonde JPE. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2016; 58(9): 902-910.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden (Dr Persson); The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen (Drs Persson, Hansen, and Rugulies); Department of Psychology (Drs H⊘gh and Rugulies), Department of Public Health (Drs Grynderup, Hansen, and Rugulies), Copenhagen University; Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital (Drs Willert and Kolstad); Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen (Drs Gullander and Bonde); Research Department P, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov (Drs Mors and Kristensen), CRECEA A/S, Aarhus (Dr Mikkelsen); Research Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense (Dr Kaerlev), Center for Clinical Epidemiology, Odense University Hospital, Odense (Dr Kaerlev), Denmark.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/JOM.0000000000000822

PMID

27454394

Abstract

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.

Language: en