SynthesisPloS one2015
Workplace Bullying and Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis on Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Correlations among workplace bullying, work stress, and social support: a meta-analysis with structural equation modeling.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Workplace bullying, symptoms of anxiety and the interaction with leadership quality - a longitudinal study using dynamic panel models with fixed effects.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2023Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Negative Work Behavior: Toward an Integrated Definition.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review on the effect of work-related stressors on mental health of young workers.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2020Pooled it
- The relationship between organisational stressors and mental wellbeing within police officers: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- Risk Factors for Workplace Bullying: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Job strain as a risk factor for clinical depression: systematic review and meta-analysis with additional individual participant data.Psychological medicine · 2017Pooled it
- Associations between workplace bullying and later benefit recipiency among workers with common mental disorders.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2022Trial
- Is higher resilience predictive of lower stress and better mental health among corporate executives?PloS one · 2019Trial
- Chronic Occupational Stress and Immune-Inflammatory Dysregulation: Mechanisms, Clinical Consequences, Biomarkers and Implications for Occupational Medicine.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Association between changes in work environment and andropause symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japanese male workers: a cross-sectional study.Industrial health · 2026Article
- The Impact of Workplace Bullying and Organizational Incivility on Nurses' Emotional Distress: Exploring Parallel Mediation Through Life Satisfaction and Functional Impairment-A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of mental health nursing · 2026Article
- Direct and Indirect Effects of Workplace Bullying on Psychotic Experiences Among Tunisian Workers: The Intermediate Role of Shame.Early intervention in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Psychometric validation of the Spanish SDM-20: an occupational health screening tool for assessing workplace mobbing.International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health · 2026Article
- Work-life conflict, coaching, and workplace harassment as determinants of employee well-being.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Onset of exposure to workplace bullying and incident treatment with psychotropic medication - an emulated target trial with 25 309 Swedish and Danish employees.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Article
- Counting pennies, carrying stress: The mental health impact of low wages on tea garden workers in Sylhet and Moulvibazar.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Bullying among medical students: prevalence, determinants, and implications for the educational environment.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Beyond the Individual: An Ecological Analysis of Workplace Bullying in Aotearoa New Zealand Midwifery.Journal of nursing management · 2026Article
- Topic modeling of workplace bullying discourse following legal regulation in South Korea.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA growing body of research has confirmed that workplace bullying is a source of distress and poor mental health. Here we summarize the cross-sectional and longitudinal literature on these associations.
methodsSystematic review and meta-analyses on the relation between workplace bullying and mental health.
resultsThe cross-sectional data (65 effect sizes, N = 115.783) showed positive associations between workplace bullying and symptoms of depression (r = .28, 95% CI = .23-.34), anxiety (r = .34, 95% CI = .29-.40) and stress-related psychological complaints (r = .37, 95% CI = .30-.44). Pooling the literature that investigated longitudinal relationships (26 effect sizes, N = 54.450) showed that workplace bullying was related to mental health complaints over time (r = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.13-0.21). Interestingly, baseline mental health problems were associated with subsequent exposure to workplace bullying (r = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.10-0.27; 11 effect sizes, N = 27.028). LIMITATIONS: All data were self-reported, raising the possibility of reporting- and response set bias.
conclusionsWorkplace bullying is consistently, and in a bi-directional manner, associated with reduced mental health. This may call for intervention strategies against bullying at work.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.