The impact of cyberbullying laws on student cyberbullying by sexual minority status

Objective

We aimed to examine the impact of cyberbullying and off-campus cyberbullying provisions in state anti-bullying laws on cyberbullying and whether the effects varied by sexual minority status.

Methods

Using data from the 2011–2021 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (911,086 high school students in 44 states in the United States), we estimated difference-in-differences logistic regression models. Policies were categorized into three types: “strong” (including cyberbullying and off-campus provisions); “moderate” (cyberbullying provisions only); or “neither” (neither provision). We also tested interactions between policies and sexual minority status.

Results

Students in states with moderate or strong policies were less likely to report having been cyberbullied compared to those in states with neither policy (moderate: marginal effect −0.01, 95 % CI −0.02, −0.00; strong: marginal effect −0.02, 95 % CI −0.03, −0.00). Sexual minority students in states with strong policies were 10.0 (95 % CI −15.0, −6.0) percentage points less likely to report being cyberbullied, while there was no effect of moderate policies.

Conclusions

While moderate and strong cyberbullying policies reduced bullying among all students, strong policies were particularly effective for sexual minority students. To safeguard the most vulnerable students, the findings underscore the continued need for cyberbullying legislation that includes off-campus provisions.