Pursuit of status and affection drives bullies' behavior

ScienceDaily (2010-03-27) -- A longitudinal study of almost 500 Dutch elementary-school children ages 9 to 12 finds that bullies generally choose to gain status by dominating their victims and that, at the same time, bullies try to reduce the chances that they'll end up on the outs with other classmates by choosing as victims children who are weak and not well-liked by others. The research team also found that gender plays a strong role in who victimizes whom.