فراوانی زورگویی در محل کار، پاسخ های فیزیولوژیکی و سلامت روان

Abstract Objective The present study aimed to elucidate the relationship between bullying at work and cortisol secretion. Of particular interest was to examine whether frequently and occasionally bullied persons differed from nonbullied persons. Methods The study included 1944 employees (1413 women and 531 men) from 55 workplaces in Denmark (16 private and 39 public workplaces). During a work day three saliva samples were collected at awakening, +30 min later, and at 20:00 hours, and analyzed for cortisol concentrations. Mental health was assessed using items on somatic, cognitive, stress, and depressive mood.

Introduction Stressful and poorly organized work environments as well as deficiencies in leadership may facilitate work-related bullying either directly or by creating a work climate in which bullying can flourish [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5]. Indeed, the phenomenon addressed as workplace “mobbing,” “bullying,” or “emotional abuse,” etc., has been the object of many studies. In Denmark, it has been estimated that 8.3% of the working population between 20 and 59 years of age has been subjected to bullying within the past year [6]. Of these, 1.6% reported frequent bullying, that is, weekly or daily. Similar results were observed in a previous study among 2539 Norwegian employees where 2% reported severe workplace bullying [7]. The most studied health outcomes of bullying are psychological symptoms and emotional reactions such as depression, burnout, anxiety, and aggression [8], [9], [10], [11] and [12]. But also psychosomatic and musculoskeletal health complaints have often been in focus [13], [14], [15], [16] and [17]. According to transactional stress models, the nature and severity of emotional reactions following exposure to bullying may be a function of a dynamic interplay between event characteristics and individual appraisal- and coping processes [18], [19] and [20]. Definitions of bullying at work commonly entail descriptions that emphasize prolonged exposure to interpersonal acts of a negative nature, with which the target is unable to cope. These negative acts may be both person related and work related. Together, these factors are likely to make up a highly stressful situation characterized by lack of control. Attributions of control and predictability are salient features of the individual's appraisal processes [19] and [21]. While the link between cognitive processes and physiology is emphasized in transactional models such as the cognitive activation theory of stress and the allostasis model, it is clear that the physiological consequences of bullying have been insufficiently examined and understood [22] and [23]. Theoretically, stress reactions may affect health either by a direct biological, prolonged physiological activation and lack of restitution, or by affecting health through lifestyle and health behaviors [24]. However, to this date, only two studies have addressed the physiological responses to workplace bullying with biological measurements among occupationally active targets [25] and [26]. Kudielka and Kern [26] found no significant differences in terms of both morning cortisol increase and cortisol day profile between the work day and the day off among 12 women and four men (aged 45 years, range 33–60 years). Nonetheless, the difference between the peak cortisol level in the morning and the lowest level in the evening showed a trend toward a lesser decrease at the work day (P=.10) among people bullied at work [26]. Similarly, Hansen et al. [25] observed signs of an altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity manifested as a lower excreted amount of salivary cortisol in the morning. The stress response, which occurs when homeostasis is threatened or perceived to be threatened, is mediated by the stress system. Cortisol is a natural energy-releasing hormone with a distinct diurnal rhythm being highest in the morning and decreasing to the lowest in the evening. The regulation of cortisol can be disturbed in various ways such as high cortisol over a longer period, a flat diurnal cortisol curve (i.e., low morning cortisol or high evening cortisol), or insufficiently secreted cortisol [27]. Hence the lower cortisol in the morning among bullied employees [25] may indicate a lower energy level in the morning.

Conclusion The most important findings were that frequent bullying is associated with lower salivary cortisol. The association remained significant even after controlling for age, gender, exact time of sampling, mental health, and duration of bullying. No such association was observed for occasional bullying. In line with previous longitudinal studies, poorer self-reported mental health was more prone among the bullied respondents irrespective of frequency and duration. Hence, the physiological response supports the self-reported mental symptoms among the frequently bullied.