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BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

The indirect association of job strain with long-term sickness absence through bullying: a mediation analysis using structural equation modeling

Authors: Heidi Janssens, Lutgart Braeckman, Bart De Clercq, Annalisa Casini, Dirk De Bacquer, France Kittel, Els Clays

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

In this longitudinal study the complex interplay between both job strain and bullying in relation to sickness absence was investigated. Following the “work environment hypothesis”, which establishes several work characteristics as antecedents of bullying, we assumed that job strain, conceptualized by the Job-Demand-Control model, has an indirect relation with long-term sickness absence through bullying.

Methods

The sample consisted of 2983 Belgian workers, aged 30 to 55 years, who participated in the Belstress III study. They completed a survey, including the Job Content Questionnaire and a bullying inventory, at baseline. Their sickness absence figures were registered during 1 year follow-up. Long-term sickness absence was defined as at least 15 consecutive days. A mediation analysis, using structural equation modeling, was performed to examine the indirect association of job strain through bullying with long-term sickness absence. The full structural model was adjusted for several possible confounders: age, gender, occupational group, educational level, company, smoking habits, alcohol use, body mass index, self-rated health, baseline long-term sickness absence and neuroticism.

Results

The results support the hypothesis: a significant indirect association of job strain with long-term sickness absence through bullying was observed, suggesting that bullying is an intermediate variable between job strain and long-term sickness absence. No evidence for the reversed pathway of an indirect association of bullying through job strain was found.

Conclusions

Bullying was observed as a mediating variable in the relation between job strain and sickness absence. The results suggest that exposure to job strain may create circumstances in which a worker risks to become a target of bullying. Our findings are generally in line with the work environment hypothesis, which emphasizes the importance of organizational work factors in the origin of bullying.
This study highlights that remodeling jobs to reduce job strain may be important in the prevention of bullying and subsequent sickness absence.
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Metadata
Title
The indirect association of job strain with long-term sickness absence through bullying: a mediation analysis using structural equation modeling
Authors
Heidi Janssens
Lutgart Braeckman
Bart De Clercq
Annalisa Casini
Dirk De Bacquer
France Kittel
Els Clays
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3522-y

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