The Relationship Between Workplace Harassment and Mental Health: A Study in Royal Malaysian Customs

The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between workplace harassment and mental health. Workplace harassment involving sexual harassment and generalized workplace harassment are hypothesized to be significantly linked with mental health problems. This study also hypothesized that mental health is significantly influenced by workplace harassment. Respondents of this study were 309 officers of Grade W17 to W44 of Royal Malaysian Customs in Putrajaya, Perak and Selangor. The
respondents were surveyed by means of questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.0. Descriptive analysis, Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis examined the prevalence of workplace harassment and their association with mental health status. The results
showed that generalized workplace harassment was more prevalent than sexual harassment. Females were subjected to higher rates of workplace harassment as compared to males. Both sexual harassment and generalized workplace harassment were significantly linked to mental health problem. It
was also found that mental health was significantly influenced by sexual harassment and generalized workplace harassment.