Citation

Puhl RM, Luedicke J, King KM. J. Public Health Policy 2014; 36(1): 95-109.

Affiliation

Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group -- Palgrave-Macmillan)

DOI

10.1057/jphp.2014.46

PMID

25393213

Abstract

State anti-bullying laws have been enacted across the United States to address bullying both by and of youths. Although these statutes can provide critical protection to youth, there is debate about whether such laws should enumerate protected classes of youth. Weight-based bullying is an increasingly prevalent form of harassment and it has been overlooked in policy initiatives. Enumeration in existing laws might help protect overweight victims. As no research has examined this issue, we conducted a national survey of American adults (N=1155) to assess public opinion about enactment of anti-bullying laws that vary according to whether or not they enumerate distinguishing characteristics. Our results demonstrated substantial public agreement (ranging from 2/3 to 3/4 of participants) with enactment of state and federal anti-bullying laws that enumerate distinguishing characteristics, including physical appearance and weight, which are currently absent in most statutes. Our evidence can inform policy and legal approaches to protect youth effectively from bullying.Journal of Public Health Policy advance online publication, 13 November 2014; doi:10.1057/jphp.2014.46.

Language: en