Schoolyard Politics

Abstract

Bullying is a vexing social and policy problem in the United States. Education scholars consistently advocate for comprehensive antibullying policies; however, the forty-nine states that have adopted antibullying programs vary in their embrace of this approach. This article addresses the question of why this is the case. First, it provides a new measure of bullying policy comprehensiveness using item response theory. Second, it examines how social and demographic characteristics, as well as neighbor-state policies, relate to this new measure. I find that a state’s support for enumerated groups and the availability of slack financial resources are the strongest explanations for variation in antibullying measures. There is also weak evidence consistent with a backlash effect, whereby states whose neighbors have more comprehensive policies adopt less comprehensive legislation. Thus, bullying policies are driven, in part, by state responsiveness to vulnerable populations but are also constrained by the realities of finite resources.