Bi-directional associations between gender-based harassment at work, psychological treatment and depressive symptoms

Johan Paulin; Paraskevi Peristera; Anna Nyberg

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1278570

Bi-directional associations between gender-based harassment at work, psychological treatment and depressive symptoms

Front Psychol. 2023 Nov 29:14:1278570. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1278570. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Johan Paulin¹, Paraskevi Peristera², Anna Nyberg^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
² Stress Research Institute, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate the bi-directional associations between experienced and witnessed gender-based harassment (GBH) on the one hand, and depressive symptoms and psychological treatment on the other, in an occupational setting. GBH are behaviors that derogate, demean, or humiliate an individual based on his or her gender.

Methods: The analyses were based on data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health at 2018 (T1) and 2020 (T2), including 6,679 working participants (60.3% women) with a majority in the age range of 45-64. Using cross-lagged structural equational models, we analyzed experienced and witnessed GBH in relation to depressive symptoms and having received psychological treatment (talked to a counselor or psychological professional) over time.

Results: Our results showed that neither experienced nor witnessed GBH was prospectively associated with depressive symptoms or psychological treatment over two years. Both higher levels of depressive symptoms (β = 0.002, p ≤ 0.001) and having received psychological treatment (β = 0.013, p = 0.027) weakly predicted experiences of GBH over time. Having received psychological treatment was furthermore weakly associated with witnessed GBH (β = 0.019, p = 0.012).

Discussion: In conclusion, the hypothesized associations between exposure to GBH and mental health outcomes were not statistically significant, while a weak reverse association was noted. More research addressing bidirectional associations between GBH and mental health outcomes are needed.

Keywords: depressive symptoms; discrimination; gender-based harassment; psychological treatment; sexism; structural equation models.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Grant Number: 2018- 00522). The funding source was not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of the paper, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.