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This study aims to examine the direct relationship between work–family conflict and psychosomatic health complaints among female physicians in Egypt. The study also investigates the mediating role of the negative affect on this relationship.

Data were collected using a paper and pen questionnaire from 186 female physicians, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data.

The study findings revealed that work–family conflict is associated with increased psychosomatic complaints among female physicians in Egypt. The study also found that negative affect partially mediates the relationship between work–family conflict and psychosomatic health complaints.

Because of the cross-sectional research design, causal interpretations could not be made. Further empirical evidence is also needed to ascertain the generalizability of the findings to other contexts.

Organizations need to support their employees in balancing their work and family roles. In addition, employees need to understand how work–family conflict could influence their affect and should try to find ways to cope.

The study addresses calls for research on the relationship between work–family conflict and health in developing countries. It also responds to calls for research on the mechanisms through which work–family conflict relates to employee health.

School principals are generally seen as key facilitators for the delivery and long-term implementation of activities on school health promotion, including health literacy. However, there is little evidence on the health literacy and health status of this occupational group. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the health literacy of school principals and its association with mental health indicators.

A cross-sectional online survey with German school principals and members of the management board (vice principals) was conducted (n = 680, 68.3% female). Demographic (gender, age) and work characteristics (type of school, professional role) as well as health literacy served as independent variables. Mental health as a dependent variable included well-being, emotional exhaustion and psychosomatic complaints. Next to uni- and bivariate analysis, a series of binary logistic regression models was performed.

Of the respondents, 29.2% showed a limited health literacy with significant differences to the disadvantage of male principals. With regard to mental health, respondents aged over 60 years and those from schools for children with special educational needs were less often affected by low well-being as well as frequent emotional exhaustion and psychosomatic complaints. Taking into account demographic and work characteristics, regression models revealed significant associations between a low level of health literacy and poor mental health across all indicators.

The cross-sectional nature of this study does not allow to draw conclusions about the causal pathways between health literacy and mental health. Although the sample has been weighted, the results cannot be generalized to the whole population of school principals. There is a need for evidence-based interventions aiming at promoting health literacy and mental health tailored to the needs of school principals.

This is the first study to investigate health literacy and its association with health indicators among school principals.

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between emotional display rules/job focused labor, work‐family interference (WFI) and burnout among a sample of workers in a Dutch governmental organization.

The research is a cross‐sectional study of 174 workers from a Dutch governmental organization.

Emotional display rules and job‐focused labor were related to burnout and psychosomatic complaints. More specifically, the need to hide negative emotions and engage in surface acting was related to negative outcomes. In addition, WFI partially mediated the relationship between the hiding of negative emotion/surface acting and burnout/psychosomatic complaints.

The present study is cross‐sectional and thus the postulated relationships cannot be interpreted causally.

In terms of training and/or interventions, there is a need for the worksite to provide structured opportunities for employees to decompress from the emotional demanding aspects of their jobs.

Emotional labor has been rarely examined as an antecedent of WFI. In addition, while emotional labor has been studied with individuals in the service sector, it has been rarely examined among individuals whose jobs are highly ceremonial in nature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether students' perceptions of their school environment and their adjustment to school are associated with health outcomes across gender and age groups.

Data from the cross‐sectional international Health Behavior in School‐aged Children Survey of the year 2002 (n=162 306) were analyzed. A structural equation model (LISREL) specified social school climate and school demands influencing, school adjustment (achievement and liking of school). The latter aspects were assumed to influence the health outcomes general health item, life satisfaction and multiple psychosomatic symptoms. Analyses were repeated across gender and age (11, 13 and 15 years).

The specified LISREL model fitted the data well on the entire sample as well as for age and gender subgroups (RMSEA=0.043‐0.054). Overall, girls' general perceived health and life satisfaction seemed to be more strongly affected by the school environment than boys'. Age affected the goodness of fit of the model and reduced the strength of the relationship between school pressure and school adjustment. In all subgroups, the relationship between better school perceptions and better subjective health and life satisfaction were supported by the analyses.

Reported findings are limited to the cross‐sectional study design which precludes causal inferences. Further research using longitudinal data is warranted to confirm the findings.

Relationships between school environment and school adjustment and health‐related outcomes revealed the relative importance of school social climate and demands for school adjustment and through the latter in determining subjective health and life satisfaction. School social climate is a target for promoting health and well‐being of children and adolescents.

Complex statistical analyses employing structural equation modelling confirmed findings on the importance of school aspects for child and adolescents in a huge data set.

This study conducted among 751 employees of the Dutch Postal Service examined (1) the prevalence of various types of work‐home interaction, (2) the relationships of (these various types of) work‐home interaction with selected work and home characteristics, and (3) the relationships of (these various types of) work‐home interaction with two health indicators (i.e., fatigue and health complaints). Results supported our assumption that workhome interaction is best characterized by a four‐dimensional structure crossing the distinction between the direction of influence (work → home influence (WHI) vs. Home → work influence (HWI)) and the quality of influence (negative vs. positive). The results further supported our hypotheses, derived from the Demand‐Control‐Support Model and the Effort‐Recovery Model: job demands were most strongly related to negative influence from work (negative WHI), and home demands were primarily (albeit weakly) related to negative influence from home (negative HWI). In accordance with our expectation, job control and particularly job support were associated with positive WHI. There was no support, however, for a similar facilitating process originating in the home situation: home control and home support were not related to any type of interaction. Furthermore, particularly negative WHI was associated with fatigue and health complaints. These findings add to the existing knowledge about possible antecedents and consequences of the interaction between work and private life.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the psychosomatic model of downward workplace bullying in different cultures.

A cross‐sectional design was used. Participants were teachers in government and non‐government high schools in Australia and the Republic of Uganda. Participants completed a self‐report questionnaire.

The psychosomatic model is supported for both the Australian and the Ugandan samples. However, the relationship between bullying and physical symptoms is fully mediated by negative affect for the Australian sample but partially mediated for the Ugandan sample. The correlation between bullying and negative affect is stronger for the Australian sample than for the Ugandan sample.

The psychosomatic model was extended by including culture as a moderator of the bullying‐negative affect relationship. The findings show that the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying is a variform universal. All participants are schoolteachers and the findings may therefore not be generalisable to employees in other occupations. The validity of the findings is questionable as the data are self‐reported. The cross‐sectional design used precludes any conclusions being made about cause‐effect relationships. Future studies should consider other personality dimensions that may influence the psychosomatic model of bullying and the use of a longitudinal design.

Downward bullying reduces employee effectiveness because the ensuing negative affect and physical symptoms hamper employees from performing optimally. Furthermore, targets may adopt avoidance strategies, such as absenteeism and turnover, to avoid being bullied.

The psychosomatic model of workplace bullying was examined cross‐culturally for the first time.

This paper examined the physical and psychological effects of workplace bullying and their relationship to intention to leave. Participants were 150 undergraduate students who had been employed during the last 12 months. Workplace bullying correlated positively with physical symptoms, negative affect, and with intention to leave the job. Partial Least Squares analyses were used to test two competing models for the relationship between bullying, physical and psychological effects, and intention to leave. The results supported the psychosomatic model (i.e., bullying leads to negative affect which leads to physical health problems, which in turn increase intention to leave) but not the disability hypothesis (i.e., bullying leads to physical health problems which lead to negative affect, which in turn increases intention to leave).

To examine the role of neuroticism in the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying.

A survey approach was used in this research. Partial Least Squares analyses on data from 127 participants were used to determine whether the effects of bullying on negative affect are independent of, or are moderated by, neuroticism.

Revealed that neuroticism does not moderate the relationship between bullying and negative affect. Bullying and neuroticism were found to act independently on negative affect. The results supported the psychosomatic model of bullying.

Limitations are the nature of the sample, the use of self‐report and cross‐sectional data. Future research could use a larger sample, include multi‐rater data, and a longitudinal research design.

Dealing effectively with bullying is a concern for individuals and organizations. The findings highlight the need for anti‐bullying policies. Management need to be trained in the prevention of bullying and in how to deal effectively with bullying. Victims should not be held accountable for the psychosomatic effects of bullying, the onus remains on managers and employers to prevent bullying from occurring.

This paper extends the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying by examining the role of neuroticism. The findings have both theoretical implications for researchers in increasing understanding of the psychosomatic model of bullying, and practical implications for managers in organizations in terms of developing strategies for countering workplace bullying and its effects.

During the past 26 years, there has been a phenomenal growth in the literature on workplace bullying. The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize the extant empirical studies on underlying and intervening mechanisms in antecedents–bullying and bullying–outcomes relationships.

In total, 53 studies on mediators and moderators in antecedents–bullying and bullying–outcomes relationships (2001-2016) were selected from academic databases (Google Scholar, Research Gate, Emerald Insight, Science Direct, etc.)

The review suggests that while a reasonable number of studies examine the role of mediators and moderators in bullying–outcomes relationships, such efforts are meager in antecedents–bullying relationships. The paper concludes by proposing some potential variables that can explain the underlying mechanisms in the bullying phenomenon and alleviate/aggravate the antecedents–bullying–outcomes relationships.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first review on mediators and moderators of workplace bullying.

The purpose of this paper is to examine workplace bullying as a potential moderator (or exacerbator) in the relationship between job demands and physical, mental and behavioral strain.

Survey data from a cross-section of 262 employees were collected using a range of measures and hierarchical moderated regressions were performed to examine the interactive effects of job demands and workplace bullying on physical exhaustion, depression, and medically certified and uncertified absenteeism.

The results revealed that workplace bullying significantly exacerbated the effects of job demands on physical exhaustion, depression, and uncertified absenteeism.

The study utilized a cross-sectional self-report survey research design which does not permit causal inferences to be made. Longitudinal research is needed to further investigate these relationships reported here.

Managers should seek to minimize workplace bullying as well as excessive job demands to help alleviate the risk of employees developing negative health outcomes.

The study investigated how different categories of stressors interact with each other to predict various health outcomes or forms of job strains.