Workplace Bullying's Sleep Impact Spreads to Partners, Reveals Study
Workplace bullying affects not only the employee's sleep but their partner's too, according to new research published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Exposure to bullying by superiors and/or colleagues has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes, such as sleep problems.
Now research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, and Complutense University of Madrid and Seville University in Spain, sheds light on the short-term consequences of workplace bullying on various indicators of sleep.
These include waking up too early (sleep severity), interference with daily life (sleep impact) and dissatisfaction with own sleep (sleep satisfaction).
the researchers aimed to examine how bullying at work impacts insomnia and to test the mediating role of “anger rumination” – which involves repetitive, persistent thinking about distressing events, such as bullying.
They found the relationship between bullying and sleep increases over time, particularly in relation to sleep onset difficulties, staying asleep and early morning awakening, and is explained by work-related anger felt by the employee and this constant rumination. They also found evidence of insomnia symptoms being “contagious” between employees and their partners, meaning that the sleep issues (both severity and impact) of one person can influence the other, highlighting how interconnected sleep health can be in relationships.
Lead UK author Professor Ana Sanz-Vergel, from UEA's Norwich Business School, said: “Our results show that the effects of workplace bullying are time-dependent and accumulative, and go beyond the individual and the work setting, impacting the partner’s sleep as well.
“Therefore, rumination can be seen as a maladaptive coping strategy to deal with workplace bullying, meaning that while this type of reflection may initially seem like a way to resolve issues or understand the situation, it can actually lead to more harm in the long run.”
Ref: Rodríguez-Muñoz, A., Antino, M., Ruiz-Zorrilla, P., Sanz-Vergel, A. I., & León-Pérez, J. M. (2025). Your Job Makes us Lose Sleep: The Effect of Workplace Bullying on Own and Partner’ Insomnia. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251318291
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