Workplace bullying, perceived job stressors, and psychological distress: Gender and race differences in the stress process

Abstract

A large body of empirical research documents the adverse mental health consequences of workplace bullying. However, less is known about gender and race differences in the processes that link workplace bullying and poor mental health. In the current study, we use structural equation modeling of survey data from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study (N = 2292) and draw on stress process theory to examine coworker support as a buffering mechanism against workplace bullying, and gender and race differences in the relationships between bullying and psychological distress. The results of the analysis indicate that coworker support serves as a protective buffer against workplace bullying, although the buffering effect is relatively small. We also find that the effects of workplace bullying more heavily impact women and persons of color. Specifically, women and African American individuals in our sample were less protected from the buffering mechanism of co-worker social support.

Levels of workplace bullying and escalation – a new conceptual model based on cut-off scores, frequency and self-labelled victimization

“…aspects of workload and ambiguity, powerlessness and vulnerability, and lack of control over one's work situation (α = .78). Several studies have shown a positive association between perceived job stressors and workplace bullying (Attell, Kummerow Brown, & Treiber, 2017;Lewis et al, 2017).…”

Women's experiences of workplace bullying: A content analysis of peer‐reviewed journal articles between 2000 and 2017

“…Scholars maintain that bullying can happen to any individual in any context, where there are actual or perceived power imbalances (Attell, Kummerow‐Brown, & Treiber, ; Misawa, ). Sedivy‐Benton, Strohschen, Cavazos, and Boden‐McGill () suggest that bullying incidents (subtle and blatant) occur frequently.…”

“…Attell et al () suggested that women are impacted by workplace bullying more than their male counterparts. The authors posited that “this disparity indicates that gender is a critical factor in how workplace bullying manifests and how employees interpret that bullying” (Attell et al, , p. 212). Findings revealed that males received more protection from co‐worker social support than did females.…”

The Impact of Workplace Ostracism on Stress and Employee Engagement

“…Stress is also a reason for the aggressive behavior of a person, and stress also leads to the negative behavior of an employee at the workplace (Ferris, Brown, Berry, & Lian, 2008). Due to stress, an employee cannot make good relationships in the workplace, and he will not find a friendly environment in the workplace because of stress ( Attell, Kummerow, & Treiber, 2017;Turner & Turner, 2013). Stress negatively affects the mental health of the person and individual want social support when he suffers stress situation, also emotional and physical help from the other in a stress situation.…”

“…The workplace ostracism also enhances the negative emotion of an individual such as mental illness, depression, sadness, jealousy, shame, guilt, embracement. These all emotions lead an individual towards stress; the stress situation minimizes the self-awareness of an individual a person doesn't know how to react in a present situation (Attell, 2017). The workplace ostracism also has a negative impact on employee engagement at the workplace because of ostracism; the communication gap will be increased between the employees (Saver, 2011).…”