Gender Patterns in Mobbing Victims: Differences in Negative Act Perceptions, MMPI Personality Profile, Perceived Quality of Life, and Suicide Risk.

Vincenzo Alfano,Alfonso Landolfi,Massimiliano Barattucci,Tiziana Ramaci,Alessandro Lo Presti

doi:10.3390/ijerph18042192

Abstract

With the aim of investigating the impact of gender-related personality characteristics on bullying perceptions and outcomes, a correlational study was designed with 114 individuals who had used a public health service aimed at harassed workers identifying themselves as victims of mobbing in central Italy. The study was conducted using the following questionnaires: the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ), a measure of workplace bullying; the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), used to provide information to measure personality dimensions for workplace screening; the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BRIEF) which assesses four domains assumed to represent the quality of life construct; and the Suicidal Potential Scale (SPS) used to assess suicidal ideation. MMPI-2 profile results show a significant elevation of specific MMPI scales and gender differences. When compared to women, men who complain of being the victims of negative actions at work are more depressed, paranoid, introverted, anxious, and obsessive, and have higher anger levels and lower self-esteem. Many different MMPI-2 scales are also predictors of quality of life (QoL) perceptions and suicidal tendencies. The NAQ total score, however, predicts quality of life and suicide risk. Perceptions of negative actions have a serious effect on life outcomes. The results provide useful indications on personality profiles and gender differences, which can be understood as antecedents in the perception of negative events, and factors capable of modulating the effect of perceived bullying actions on outcomes.

Highlights

Dramatic economic and social phenomena are significantly changing working environments and related job demands, leading to parallel changes in human resource management strategies and subsequent changes in worker perceptions [1,2,3], and there is much literature on the dysfunctional aspects of work organizations and their subsequent degenerative effects, is difficult to find a way to address clearly negative and vexatious phenomena, such as mobbing, that are instead related to personal and organizational variables [4]
With the aim of examining the impact of gender-related personality characteristics on bullying perceptions and outcomes, a correlational study was designed with 114 individuals who had used a public health service aimed at harassed workers identifying themselves as victims of mobbing
In order to clarify the gender differences regarding the personality profiles of mobbing victims, the present study aims to explore the relationships between negative action perceptions, MMPI-2 personality profile, and quality of life, and to explore possible gender differences within individual clusters of workers, which is a multivariate technique that allows us to group statistical units to minimize the “internal differences” of each group and to maximize the external ones between the groups

Summary

Introduction

Dramatic economic and social phenomena are significantly changing working environments and related job demands, leading to parallel changes in human resource management strategies and subsequent changes in worker perceptions [1,2,3], and there is much literature on the dysfunctional aspects of work organizations and their subsequent degenerative effects, is difficult to find a way to address clearly negative and vexatious phenomena, such as mobbing, that are instead related to personal and organizational variables [4]. Prevalence studies suggest mobbing is a widespread and common problem in contemporary working life [1,2,3,5], and based on the epidemiological data, it can be considered one of the greatest threats to worker wellbeing [6], causing distressing consequences for both an organization and its employees [7]. Workplace bullying has severe negative consequences on employee health and wellbeing, organizational performance, and even social context [8,9].

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