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The occurrence and co-occurrence of conflicts and negative acts and their associations with self-rated health, workability, and life-satisfaction : a cross-sectional study of Swedish school principals

Persson, Roger LU orcid ; Leo, Ulf and Håkansson, Carita LU orcid (2025) In BMC Research Notes 18(1).
Abstract
Objective
As part of our research on Swedish school principals, we examined the occurrence and co-occurrence of conflicts and five negative acts (i.e. harassment, sexual harassment, threats of violence or physical harm, physical violence, bullying), their attributed sources, and their associations with self-rated health, workability, and general life satisfaction among 2670 principals.

Results
During the past 12 months, approximately 75% of the school principals had experienced conflicts, 27.1% harassment, 22.4% threats of violence or physical harm, 7.2% physical violence, 5.9% bullying, and 2.7% sexual harassment. Some 18.9% reported neither involvement in conflicts nor being subjected to negative acts. Parents and... (More)
Objective
As part of our research on Swedish school principals, we examined the occurrence and co-occurrence of conflicts and five negative acts (i.e. harassment, sexual harassment, threats of violence or physical harm, physical violence, bullying), their attributed sources, and their associations with self-rated health, workability, and general life satisfaction among 2670 principals.

Results
During the past 12 months, approximately 75% of the school principals had experienced conflicts, 27.1% harassment, 22.4% threats of violence or physical harm, 7.2% physical violence, 5.9% bullying, and 2.7% sexual harassment. Some 18.9% reported neither involvement in conflicts nor being subjected to negative acts. Parents and teachers were common counterparts in conflicts and harassment. Parents and students made frequent threats of violence and physical harm. Mainly students carried out acts of violence. Logistic regression analyses showed that reports of being harassed, threatened, and bullied were consistently associated with lower self-rated health, workability, and general life satisfaction. School principals who had been subjected to sexual harassment reported lower workability in relation to psychological demands and lower general life satisfaction. School principals’ health, workability, and general life satisfaction may benefit from taking measures that ensure proper social interactions with both internal (e.g. superiors) and external stakeholders (e.g. parents). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
BMC Research Notes
volume
18
issue
1
article number
436
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:41116193
ISSN
1756-0500
DOI
10.1186/s13104-025-07540-5
project
Skolledares arbetsmiljö del 2: Fördjupande undersökningar av rektorers organisatoriska förutsättningar för ett hållbart skolledarskap
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2f476e27-dd0b-46c4-b342-c0f158771440
alternative location
https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-025-07540-5
date added to LUP
2025-10-22 12:05:36
date last changed
2025-10-23 03:00:35
@misc{2f476e27-dd0b-46c4-b342-c0f158771440,
  abstract     = {{Objective<br/>As part of our research on Swedish school principals, we examined the occurrence and co-occurrence of conflicts and five negative acts (i.e. harassment, sexual harassment, threats of violence or physical harm, physical violence, bullying), their attributed sources, and their associations with self-rated health, workability, and general life satisfaction among 2670 principals.<br/><br/>Results<br/>During the past 12 months, approximately 75% of the school principals had experienced conflicts, 27.1% harassment, 22.4% threats of violence or physical harm, 7.2% physical violence, 5.9% bullying, and 2.7% sexual harassment. Some 18.9% reported neither involvement in conflicts nor being subjected to negative acts. Parents and teachers were common counterparts in conflicts and harassment. Parents and students made frequent threats of violence and physical harm. Mainly students carried out acts of violence. Logistic regression analyses showed that reports of being harassed, threatened, and bullied were consistently associated with lower self-rated health, workability, and general life satisfaction. School principals who had been subjected to sexual harassment reported lower workability in relation to psychological demands and lower general life satisfaction. School principals’ health, workability, and general life satisfaction may benefit from taking measures that ensure proper social interactions with both internal (e.g. superiors) and external stakeholders (e.g. parents).}},
  author       = {{Persson, Roger and Leo, Ulf and Håkansson, Carita}},
  issn         = {{1756-0500}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Research Notes}},
  title        = {{The occurrence and co-occurrence of conflicts and negative acts and their associations with self-rated health, workability, and life-satisfaction : a cross-sectional study of Swedish school principals}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07540-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s13104-025-07540-5}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}