Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Expansion and Risk of Bullying Among Adolescents.

Objective: To examine associations between state-level expansion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility and adolescent bullying.

Methods: This cross-sectional ecologic study used data from the SNAP Policy Database and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2013-2021) in 41 states. Log-binomial regression compared the risk of any bullying, school bullying, and e-bullying among adolescents (grades 9-12) in states that had both broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) policies to expand SNAP eligibility (i.e., asset test eliminated and income limit increased) and that had the asset test eliminated only to adolescents in states with neither policy.

Results: In primary analyses (2013-2019) including 645,244 adolescents, those in states with both BBCE policies had lower risk of experiencing any bullying (RR=0.87, 95% CI 0.84, 0.89), school bullying (RR=0.86, 95% CI 0.83, 0.89), and e-bullying (RR=0.85, 95% CI 0.82, 0.88) compared to adolescents in states with neither policy. Similarly, adolescents in states with the asset test eliminated only had lower risk of experiencing any bullying, school bullying, and e-bullying compared to adolescents in states with neither policy. Secondary analyses that included 2021, a COVID-19 pandemic year, showed that adolescents in states with both policies had lower risk of experiencing each type of bullying, while adolescents in states with the asset test eliminated only had lower risk of experiencing e-bullying, compared to adolescents in states with neither policy.

Conclusions: State BBCE policies were associated with a lower risk of adolescent bullying. Results suggest that expanding SNAP eligibility, including through state BBCE policies, may contribute to reductions in bullying.