Citation

Nielsen MB, Nielsen GH, Notelaers G, Einarsen S. Am. J. Public Health 2015; 105(11): e23-8.

Affiliation

Morten Birkeland Nielsen is with the National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway, and the Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. Geir Høstmark Nielsen is with the Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen. Guy Notelaers and Ståle Einarsen are with the Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2015.302855

PMID

26378852

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We examined whether victimization from bullying is related to an increased risk of suicidal ideation over time and whether suicidal ideation is related to subsequent bullying.

METHODS: In a longitudinal study (2005-2010), we used well-established single-item measures to assess victimization from bullying and suicidal ideation. We used latent Markov models to determine forward and reverse relationships between variables at 3 time points with 2 or 3 years between the measurement points among a randomized nationwide sample of 1846 employees in Norway.

RESULTS: Victimization from bullying was associated with subsequent suicidal ideation (odds ratio = 2.05; 95% confidence interval = 1.08, 3.89). Suicidal ideation at baseline was not related to subsequent victimization from workplace bullying.

CONCLUSIONS: Workplace bullying may be a precursor to suicidal ideation, whereas suicidal ideation seems to have no impact on subsequent risk of being bullied. Regulations against bullying should be integrated into work-related legislation and public health policies. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print September 17, 2015: e1-e6. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302855).

Language: en