NCJ Number
189197
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 233-268
Date Published
June 2001
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This study examines the target's perspective on emotional abuse at work.
Abstract
Most research to date on emotional abuse at work has used survey and other quantitative methodologies in an effort to document the presence, prevalence, and impact of such behaviors. However, those methodologies were based on researchers' definitions and theories of what constitutes emotional abuse. A thorough understanding of this phenomenon requires a scholarly appreciation of the target's experience. Taking "feeling abused" as the criterion variable, this study examined targets' experiences based on interviews with people who claimed to have experienced difficulties with a supervisor, coworker, or subordinate. The interpersonal aspects of emotional abuse focused on the nature of behaviors exhibited and respondents' labeling of their experiences. Behaviors were defined as abusive when they were repetitive, resulted in injury or harm to target, were experienced as a lack of recognition of the individual's integrity, violated standards of conduct, and were unsolicited. Relative power differential was also an important element, but actor intent was not. The systemic aspect of emotional abuse was illustrated in the nature of organizational response to concerns raised by respondents. Those responses were of critical importance in respondents' labeling of their experiences as abusive. Tables, references