I'm not trying to suggest "Bullies are all abused people."
I said These studies almost never ask questions like ... That was very intentional.
"I'm being abused" is merely one example of someone having a crappy life. There are lots of ways a person's life can be crappy.
So your comment doesn't really disagree with my suggestion, though it sort of seems to. I'm only suggesting that bullies are probably miserable and taking their misery out on other people and that element isn't actually examined by most studies.
The study characterizes these cyberbullies as males who spend too much time online. I object to that.
That more or less smears men and people who spend a lot of time online without finding any real cause. I think it's a characterization that amounts to harmful disinformation.
It's not much different from racial profiling which people object to for the implication that "people of color are just immoral and inherently inclined to be criminal." (Among other reasons.)
I object to this study essentially pointing fingers at innocent characteristics as if they are causal without finding any meaningful causes. It doesn't even seem to look for meaningful causes.
I spend a lot of time online. That doesn't per se make me more inclined to bully people.
I do my damnedest to be a decent person in spite of having a very difficult life. I've been on the receiving end of bullying on a forum where it was mod policy to actively encourage members to pick on certain people and then the mods would act like the people being bullied were at fault for any drama that swirled around them when there was no means for those people to shut that crap down (I have reason to believe I continued to be stalked by some of these assholes even after they banned me).
I was homeless at the time and it was an extremely classist forum.
So there's no doubt all kinds of factors that contribute to such behavior. But this study doesn't seem to list a single thing that looks like a meaningful contributor.
The mods were a large part of the problem on the forum where I was harassed. That doesn't mean "Becoming a mod puts you at greater risk of becoming a bully."
Those people were just assholes who found themselves in an easily abusable position of power. Some of them were assholes who were very open about their childhood baggage, such as having an alcoholic father.
So personal baggage was a contributing factor. But we all can choose whether our baggage is a source of compassion for the suffering of others or a bullshit excuse to kick others while they are down.
These folks chose to kick me while I was down while bragging to the world about what amazingly woke and good people they are. And most people buy their BS about being good people and woke people and fail to see how they actively and intentionally crap on some people for no real reason.