The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry notes that those who bully "thrive on controlling or dominating others." Bullies themselves could be victims of abuse and thus are perpetuating the cycle of physical and psychological violence to which they are subjected. As a result, a bully may target victims who are younger, smaller, unpopular or otherwise easily intimidated. Researcher Dan Olweus has demonstrated that bullies rarely victimize others because of low self-esteem.
Pediatrician Kathy Masarie asserts that some bullies may act aggressively toward others because they are angry or depressed about events at home. Death or illness of a family member, a parent's loss of employment or substance abuse, poverty, living in a dangerous neighborhood and being subjected to frequent moves are all stresses that a child or adolescent may not be able to handle or understand. A bully may victimize someone else in lieu of being able to express his or her feelings.
Some bullies, argues Masarie, attack others because they lack properly developed social skills and cannot "get themselves out of situations without bullying." Counselor Doris Rhea Coy observes that a lack of social skills can result when parents or other adults encourage children to assert themselves in unacceptable ways or discipline them inconsistently. Other children, like those who have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or autism, may have difficultly understanding social cues and react impulsively.
Coy argues that bullying is pervasive in part because schools have not addressed the problem and many teachers, parents and staff ignore bullying when they do witness it. Crowded conditions and a general lack of supervision in schools can encourage bullying, a behavior that may be seen by some adults as just a natural part of growing up. Bullies also may be glorified in movies and on television. The absence of negative consequences for, or indifference to, bullies at home or in school may exacerbate the problem.