Gender Patterns in Mobbing Victims: Differences in Negative Act Perceptions, MMPI Personality Profile, Perceived Quality of Life, and Suicide Risk

Vincenzo Alfano, Tiziana Ramaci, Alfonso Landolfi, Alessandro Lo Presti and Massimiliano Barattucci
Additional contact information
Vincenzo Alfano: Istituto Teseo, 84099 San Cipriano Picentino, Italy
Tiziana Ramaci: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, 94100 Enna, Italy
Alfonso Landolfi: Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Alessandro Lo Presti: Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Massimiliano Barattucci: Faculty of Psychology, e-Campus University, 22060 Novedrate, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: With the aim of investigating the impact of gender-related personality characteristics on bullying perceptions and outcomes, a correlational study was designed with 114 individuals who had used a public health service aimed at harassed workers identifying themselves as victims of mobbing in central Italy. The study was conducted using the following questionnaires: the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ), a measure of workplace bullying; the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), used to provide information to measure personality dimensions for workplace screening; the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BRIEF) which assesses four domains assumed to represent the quality of life construct; and the Suicidal Potential Scale (SPS) used to assess suicidal ideation. MMPI-2 profile results show a significant elevation of specific MMPI scales and gender differences. When compared to women, men who complain of being the victims of negative actions at work are more depressed, paranoid, introverted, anxious, and obsessive, and have higher anger levels and lower self-esteem. Many different MMPI-2 scales are also predictors of quality of life (QoL) perceptions and suicidal tendencies. The NAQ total score, however, predicts quality of life and suicide risk. Perceptions of negative actions have a serious effect on life outcomes. The results provide useful indications on personality profiles and gender differences, which can be understood as antecedents in the perception of negative events, and factors capable of modulating the effect of perceived bullying actions on outcomes.

Keywords: mobbing; gender; victims; workplace; suicide; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/2192/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/2192/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:2192-:d:504417

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().