Studies reporting an association between workplace bullying and SI, and behaviours
| Author, year, country | Sample size and recruitment method | Age mean (SD) Female (%) | Workplace bullying measure | Suicide measure | Estimate of association | Findings | Quality indicators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterud et al (2008), Norway31 | 1286 (RR 41%) ambulance personnel | 36.8 (9.3) 23.2% | Single item, past 12 months, frequency (never to often) | Ideation—Paykel's Suicidal Feelings in the General Population (2 items used) | AOR lifetime ideation (1.0–2.7) p<.05; in past year ideation/thoughts AOR 1.5 (0.8–2.8, NS) | Bullying was significantly associated with lifetime, but not past year SI (postadjustment). | Association: ✓ Adjustment: ✓a Representative: ✓ Longitudinal: × |
| Balducci et al (2009), Italy36 | 107 (RR NR), workers contacting mental health services about mobbing situation; perceived targets | 42.7 (9.2) 44.9% | NAQ, past 6 months, frequency (never to daily) | Mixed ideation and behaviour—SPS, 6-item MMPI-2 ‘suicide risk scale’ (summed score) | r=.30, p<0.01 | Frequency of bullying in past 6 months was positively correlated with current SI/behaviour. | Association: ✓ Adjustment: × Representative: × Longitudinal: × |
| Lac et al (2012), France*29 | 69 (RR NR): 41 targets of workplace bullying referred to health clinic; 28 healthy control group | 46.3 (8.5) 68% | Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror, past 6 months, frequency (at least once a week) | Ideation and attempts—self-report items (details NR) | Bullied group with more ideation. (p<0.0001) Bullied group with more attempts. (p<0.05) | Bullied group: 66% ideation and 7% attempts. Control group: 0% ideation and 0% attempts | Association: ✓ Adjustment: × Representative: × Longitudinal: × |
| Soares (2012), Canada35 | Study 1 (S1): 613 (RR 32%) health professionals Study 2 (S2): 469 (RR 32%) engineers | 40 (NR) 81% 44 (NR) 18% | Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror. 4 groups of workplace bullying: never, current, past 12 months, witness | Ideation—single item from Beck Depression Inventory | Duration of bullying and SI; S1: r=0.13, p<0.001 S2: r=0.19, p<0.001 Frequency of bullying and SI S1: r=0.19, p<0.001 S2:r=0.20, p<0.001 | ‘Bullied currently’ or ‘in the past 12 months’ had significantly higher scores on SI than those ‘never bullied’; Higher SI scores among those bullied by a superior or multiple people. | Association: ✓ Adjustment: × Representative: ✓ Longitudinal: × |
| Romeo et al (2013), Italy39 | 48 (RR NR), targets of workplace bullying, longitudinal follow-up (T2) at 12 months or more (mean 22 months) | 43.3 (NR) 65% | Self-report and clinician confirmed T2: single item: change in bullying situation | Mixed ideation and behaviour—SPS, 6-item MMPI-2 ‘suicide risk scale’ (summed score) | (t(25)=3.34, p<0.01); (t(25)=1.23, NS) | Improvement in bullying associated with reduction in ideation/behaviour. No change in bullying associated with no change in SI/behaviour | Association: ✓ Adjustment: × Representative: × Longitudinal: ✓ |
| Nielsen et al (2015), Norway18 | 1846 (RR 57%), employees from national register, longitudinal follow-up at 2 and 5 years | 44.3 (NR) 54% | Self-report single item, past 6 months, frequency (never to several times a week) | Ideation—self-report single item from Hopkins Symptoms Checklist, over past week and severity (‘not at all’ to ‘extreme’) | T1: Spearman r=0.12, p<0.001; T2 Spearman r=0.10, p<0.001; T3: Spearman r=0.09, p<0.001 AOR=2.05; CI=1.08, 3.89; p<0.05 | Workplace bullying correlated with current SI and 2 or 5 years later. Bullied workers twice as likely to report SI at later time point. | Association: ✓ Adjustment: ✓ b Representative: ✓ Longitudinal: ✓ |
| Nielsen et al (2016), Norway*30 | 1939 (RR 57%) employees from national register, longitudinal follow-up at 2 and 5 years | 46.5 (NR) 55% | NAQ (person-related, work-related, physical-related bullying). Past 6 months, frequency (never to daily) | Ideation—self-report single item from Hopkins Symptoms Checklist, over past week and severity (‘not at all’ to ‘extreme’) | T2: person-related AOR=.84. Work-related AOR=1.18. Physical intimidation AOR=10.68 (p<0.001). T3: person-related AOR=.93. Work-related AOR=.96. Physical intimidation AOR=6.41 (p<0.01) | Only physical intimidation predicted SI at T2 and T3, after adjusting for covariates. | Association: ✓ Adjustment: ✓ c Representative: ✓ Longitudinal: ✓ |
| Milner et al (2016), Australia32 | 932 (RR 71%) employees, nationally representative sample | Median 35–44 45.2% | Self-report 6-item scale, frequency (never to daily) | Ideation—self-report 4 items (yes/no) | AOR=1.94, CI=1.50–2.50; p<0.001 | Workplace bullying was significantly associated with SI (postadjustment) | Association: ✓ Adjustment: ✓ d Representative: ✓ Longitudinal: × |
Lac sample from same pool as Brousse (in table 2).
*Both Nielsen et al18 ,30 studies used the same sample. Covariates adjusted for: (a) gender, age, marital status, personality measure of susceptibility to paranoia (reality weakness); (b) gender, age, change in job or workplace; (c) age, gender, baseline SI, shared variance of the indicators of bullying behaviour (person-related, work-related, physically related bullying behaviours); (d) gender, age, occupational skill level, psychosocial job stressors (supervisor support, job control, job demands, job insecurity).
AOR, adjusted OR; RR, response rate; NAQ, Negative Acts Questionnaire; NR, not reported; NS, not significant; R, correlation; SI, suicidal ideation; SPS, Suicidal Potential Scale; T, time; MMPI, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.