| Distress and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were investigated among victims of workplace bullying, that is, the exposure to recurrent, oppressive, abusive behavior where the aggressor may be a superior, colleague, or patient. The participants in this study were Registered Nurses recruited from an association of Critical Care Nurses (n = 208). The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between exposure to bullying at work and psychological complaints including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and State-Negative Affectivity.;Exposure to bullying behaviors at work correlated in a strong and positive direction with depression, anxiety, PTSD symptoms and negative affectivity. As expected, bullying correlated in a strong and negative direction with positive affectivity. State-negative affectivity, a personality dispositional variable, was investigated as a predictor of more severe bullying and psychopathology. Regression analysis indicated that state-negative affectivity predicted 48.3 percent of the variance in bullying endorsements; 30.9 percent of the variance in depression; 53.4 percent of the variance in anxiety; and 39.6 percent of the variance in PTSD.;Pearson's product-moment correlational analysis was performed between bullying and the intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal subscales of the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (Weiss & Marmar, 1997). These results indicated that PTSD symptoms of intrusion are more strongly associated with bullying than hyperarousal and avoidance, although all three symptom clusters were correlated in a moderate to strong and positive direction. The results revealed a strong and positive relationship between bullying and the respondents' intent to leave the organization. The results indicated that as bullying increased individuals were more likely to leave organizations. Twenty-one respondents (48.8 percent) from the bullied group endorsed intent to leave the organization, or 10 percent of the entire sample. |
