Abstract
Background: Individuals with obesity face weight-related discrimination in many life domains, including workplace bullying, especially in female employees with obesity. However, associations between experiences of workplace bullying and psychological health impairments considering weight status and sex remain unclear. Methods: Within a representative population-based sample of N = 1290 employees, self-reported experiences of workplace bullying were examined for variations by weight status and sex. Using path analyses, sex-specific mediation effects of workplace bullying on associations between weight status and work-related psychological health impairments (burnout symptoms, quality of life) were tested. Results: Employees with obesity experienced more workplace bullying than those with normal weight. Workplace bullying was positively associated with psychological health impairments and partially mediated the associations between higher weight status and elevated burnout symptoms and lower quality of life in women, but not in men. Conclusions: The result that more experiences of workplace bullying were, compared with weight status, more strongly associated with work-related psychological health impairments in women, but not in men, uniquely extends evidence on sex-specific effects within weight-related discrimination. Continued efforts by researchers, employers, and policy makers are needed to reduce weight-related discrimination in work settings, eventually increasing employees’ health and job productivity.
Highlights
In Model 2, a higher weight status was significantly associated with more experiences of workplace bullying (β = 0.08), with the latter being associated with higher burnout symptoms (β = 0.29) and with a lower quality of life (β = −0.22), showing the indirect effect of weight status on psychological health impairments
For women, experiences of workplace bullying partially mediated the association between a higher weight status and elevated burnout symptoms and a lower quality of life
Experiences of workplace bullying were significantly associated with psychological health impairments and emerged as a partial mediator on the associations between higher body weight and elevated burnout symptoms and a lower quality of life, with this effect being evident in women, but not in men
Summary
Individuals with obesity face weight-related discrimination in many life domains, including workplace bullying, especially in female employees with obesity. Associations between experiences of workplace bullying and psychological health impairments considering weight status and sex remain unclear. Sex-specific mediation effects of workplace bullying on associations between weight status and work-related psychological health impairments (burnout symptoms, quality of life) were tested. Workplace bullying was positively associated with psychological health impairments and partially mediated the associations between higher weight status and elevated burnout symptoms and lower quality of life in women, but not in men. Conclusions: The result that more experiences of workplace bullying were, compared with weight status, more strongly associated with work-related psychological health impairments in women, but not in men, uniquely extends evidence on sex-specific effects within weight-related discrimination. Employers, and policy makers are needed to reduce weight-related discrimination in work settings, eventually increasing employees’ health and job productivity
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