Those who have experienced bullying in the workplace are at high risk of suicide without depression
Mar 26, 2025
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This is the result of a research team led by Professor Jeon Sang-won, Cho Sung-joon, and Kim Eun-soo of the Department of Mental Health Medicine at Gangbuk Samsung Hospital, which was recently published in the international journal 『Scientific Reports』.
The research team said it confirmed this by analyzing the relationship between bullying in the workplace and suicidal thoughts and attempts based on a self-reported questionnaire of 12,2541 office workers aged 19 to 65 who were examined at the hospital's corporate mental health research institute between 2020 and 2022.
The research team pointed out that Korea's suicide rate was 24.1 per 100,000 people in 2020, the highest among OECD countries, and that a surge in the suicide rate of workers is emerging as an important public health issue at a time when Korea's business-oriented growth and long-term labor practices are combined.
The workplace bullying was evaluated by classifying it into no bullying, occasional bullying experiences (less than once a month), and frequent bullying experiences (more than once a week or daily), and the suicide rate was investigated using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey's self-report questionnaire.
According to the survey, 18.7% of women and 10.6% of men experienced workplace bullying.
Compared to the group who responded that there was no bullying, the group who experienced occasional bullying had 1.47 times higher suicidal thoughts and 2.27 times higher suicide attempts. The group that experienced frequent bullying showed 1.81 times higher suicidal thoughts and 4.43 times higher suicide attempts.
In particular, suicidal thoughts or suicidal thoughts caused by workplace bullying were significant regardless of the presence or absence of depression. It is explained that even if there is no depression, bullying in the workplace itself can lead to suicide risk.
The research team emphasized that the study was the first to confirm the link between workplace bullying and suicide accidents or attempts by workers without depression, and that identifying bullying experiences regardless of depression is important in evaluating employees' suicide risk. It also said that the establishment of a system to address workplace bullying and mental health support will play an important role in reducing work-related suicides.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
