UI researchers study Iowa's anti-bullying law

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dr. Marizen Ramirez from the University of Iowa and her colleagues set out a few years ago to investigate the effectiveness of Iowa's anti-bullying law.

Starting in 2007, Iowa's schools have been required to have an anti-bullying policy set in stone. They had to define bullying, as well as set reporting guidelines and ways on responding to both victims and perpetrators.

Ramirez, who is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, says with the help of the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Public Health, the team of researchers were able to analyze data from the Iowa Youth Survey from before the law was passed and the years after. The numbers came from sixth, eighth and 11th graders.

In the team's findings, there was a spike in bullying reports after the law was passed. Ramirez attributes this to the possibility of increased reporting and more knowledge of bullying.

She says starting in 2010, reports of bullying started decreasing.

"It does suggest that there is some trend towards decreases in bullying due to the presence of the law," she said.

Ramirez says she and her colleagues are only "scratching the surface" in this research and will continue surveying middle schools to see what activities they're implementing as part of their anti-bullying efforts.