Objective: 

We examined parent reports of temper tantrum characteristics (e.g., frequency, duration, and behavioral profile) in toddlers and preschoolers and their longitudinal association with internalizing and externalizing adjustment problems.

Methods: 

Parents of 1- to 5-year-olds (N = 861, M_age = 36 months, 47% girls) reported their child's temper tantrum frequency, duration, and behaviors. A subsample also reported on their child's tantrums and adjustment problems 1 year later (n = 252). We first compared the distribution of temper tantrum frequency and duration for different ages. Next, we examined which factors underlie the tantrum behaviors and whether behavioral profiles could be distinguished based on configurations of these factors within children. Finally, we performed regression analyses predicting internalizing and externalizing adjustment problems by temper tantrum frequency, duration, and behavioral profile, controlling for child sex and age.

Results: 

Chi-square tests indicated that overall, tantrum frequency declined, whereas tantrum duration increased across the 1- to 5-year age range. We found that based on 4 tantrum behavior factors (anger, distress, aggression, and self-injurious behavior), 3 profiles characterized the tantrum behavior of children in the sample: a low-intensity profile (26%), a moderate-intensity profile (32%), and a high aggressive/self-injurious profile (42%). More frequent tantrums predicted more externalizing problems, whereas longer tantrum duration predicted internalizing problems. The high aggressive/self-injurious profile predicted adjustment problems above and beyond tantrum duration and frequency.

Conclusion: 

Parent reports of different tantrum characteristics are uniquely predictive of different types of problems and may each be important to include in screening efforts for adjustment problems in young children.

中文翻译：

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幼儿和学龄前儿童发脾气：与适应问题的纵向关联

客观的： 

我们检查了幼儿和学龄前儿童发脾气特征（例如频率、持续时间和行为特征）的家长报告，以及它们与内化和外化调整问题的纵向关联。

方法： 

1 至 5 岁儿童的父母（N = 861，M_年龄= 36 个月，47% 是女孩）报告了孩子发脾气的频率、持续时间和行为。子样本还报告了孩子一年后的发脾气和适应问题（n = 252）。我们首先比较了不同年龄段的发脾气频率和持续时间的分布。接下来，我们研究了哪些因素导致了发脾气行为，以及是否可以根据这些因素在儿童体内的配置来区分行为特征。最后，我们进行了回归分析，通过控制儿童性别和年龄，通过发脾气频率、持续时间和行为特征来预测内化和外化调整问题。

结果： 

卡方检验表明，总体而言，1 至 5 岁年龄段的发脾气频率有所下降，而发脾气持续时间却有所增加。我们发现，基于 4 个发脾气行为因素（愤怒、痛苦、攻击性和自伤行为），样本中儿童的发脾气行为有 3 个特征：低强度特征（26%）、中等强度特征(32%)，以及高度攻击性/自伤行为 (42%)。更频繁的发脾气预示着更多的外化问题，而较长的发脾气持续时间则预示着更多的内化问题。高攻击性/自伤特征预示着除了发脾气持续时间和频率之外的调整问题。

结论： 

家长对不同发脾气特征的报告可以独特地预测不同类型的问题，并且每一项对于幼儿适应问题的筛查工作都可能很重要。