Washington, Jul 9 (IANS): Research shows that children and adolescents who lack skills to solve social problems tend to become bullies, victims or both.

It was also found that boys bully more than girls and children who face academic troubles are also likely to become bullies.

"This is the first time we have overviewed the research to see what individual and environmental characteristics predict the likelihood of becoming a bully, victim or both," says Clayton R. Cook, Louisiana State University, who led the study.

Cook and co-authors from the University of California Riverside examined 153 studies in the last 30 years.

"A typical bully has problem resolving problems, trouble in academics, has negative attitudes about others, feels negatively towards himself/herself, comes from a family environment characterised by conflict and poor parenting," Cook says.

"A typical victim is likely to be aggressive, lack social skills, think negative thoughts, experience difficulties in solving social problems, come from negative family, school and community environments," Cook added

The typical bully-victim (someone who bullies and is bullied) also has negative attitudes and beliefs about self, the study found.

Sample sizes for the studies ranged from 44 to 26,430 people and aged between three to 18 years old, from the US and Europe, says a Louisiana State University release.

Researchers used self, peer, teacher and parent reports to measure the extent of bullying, aggression and victimisation.