title: Development of a mobbing short scale in the Gutenberg Health Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Despite its highly detrimental potential, most standard questionnaires assessing psychosocial stress at work do not include mobbing as a risk factor. In the German standard version of COPSOQ, mobbing is assessed with a single item. In the Gutenberg Health Study, this version was used together with a newly developed short scale based on the Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of these two measures, to compare them and to test their differential impact on relevant outcome parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  This analysis is based on a population-based sample of 1441 employees participating in the Gutenberg Health Study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and reliability analyses were used to assess the mobbing scale. To determine their predictive validities, multiple linear regression analyses with six outcome parameters and log-binomial regression models for two of the outcome aspects were run.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analyses of the five-item scale confirmed a one-factor solution, reliability was α = 0.65. Both the single-item and the five-item scales were associated with all six outcome scales. Effect sizes were similar for both mobbing measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mobbing is an important risk factor for health-related outcomes. For the purpose of psychosocial risk assessment in the workplace, both the single-item and the five-item constructs were psychometrically appropriate. Associations with outcomes were about equivalent. However, the single item has the advantage of parsimony, whereas the five-item construct depicts several distinct forms of mobbing.
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Institute and Polyclinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, TU Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany. susanniegel@gmail.com.|Department of Psychosomatics and Health Behavior, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. susanniegel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garthus-Niegel
authors.affiliation: FFAS, Freiburg Research Center for Occupational and Social Medicine, Bertoldstr. 27, 79098, Freiburg, Germany. nuebling@ffas.de.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nübling
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Straße 67, 55131, Mainz, Germany. letzel@uni-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Letzel
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Institute and Polyclinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, TU Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany. janice.hegewald@tu-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hegewald
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Institute and Polyclinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, TU Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany. mandy.wagner@tu-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany. philipp.wild@unimedizin-mainz.de.|Department of Medicine 2, University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany. philipp.wild@unimedizin-mainz.de.|German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany. philipp.wild@unimedizin-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Philipp S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Straße 69, 55131, Mainz, Germany. blettner-sekretariat@imbei.uni-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blettner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Straße 69, 55131, Mainz, Germany. isabella.zwiener@unimedizin-mainz.de.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zwiener
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Nöldnerstr. 40-42, 10317, Berlin, Germany. latza.ute@baua.bund.de.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Latza
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Nöldnerstr. 40-42, 10317, Berlin, Germany. jankowiak.sylvia@baua.bund.de.
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jankowiak
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Nöldnerstr. 40-42, 10317, Berlin, Germany. liebers.falk@baua.bund.de.
authors.forename: Falk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liebers
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Institute and Polyclinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, TU Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany. andreas.seidler@mailbox.tu-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seidler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D058445:Bullying; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: COPSOQ; Gutenberg Health Study; Mobbing; Psychometric evaluation; Stress and strain