Temper tantrums are sudden, overt negative emotional displays that are disproportionate to the eliciting event. Research supports that severe temper tantrums during the preschool period are associated with preschool psychopathology, but few studies have identified which characteristics of preschool tantrums are predictive of distal psychopathological outcomes in later childhood and adolescence. To examine this question, we used a prospective, longitudinal dataset enriched for early psychopathology. Participants (N = 299) included 3-to 6-year-old children (47.8% female) assessed for tantrums and early childhood psychopathology using diagnostic interviews and then continually assessed using diagnostic interviews over 10 subsequent time points throughout childhood and adolescence. We identified two unique groupings of tantrum behaviors: aggression towards others/objects (e.g., hitting others) and aggression towards self (e.g., hitting self). While both types of tantrum behaviors were associated with early childhood psychopathology severity, tantrum behaviors characterized by aggression towards self were more predictive of later psychopathology. Children displaying high levels of both types of tantrum behaviors had more severe externalizing problems during early childhood and more severe depression and oppositional defiant disorder across childhood and adolescence. Findings suggest that tantrum behaviors characterized by aggression towards self are particularly predictive of later psychopathology.

发脾气是指突然、明显的负面情绪表现，与引发事件不成比例。研究表明，学龄前期间的严重发脾气与学前精神病理学有关，但很少有研究确定学龄前发脾气的哪些特征可以预测儿童后期和青春期的远端精神病理学结果。为了研究这个问题，我们使用了一个针对早期精神病理学丰富的前瞻性纵向数据集。参与者（N = 299）包括 3 至 6 岁儿童（47.8% 女性），通过诊断访谈评估发脾气和幼儿期精神病理学，然后在整个童年和青春期的 10 个后续时间点继续使用诊断访谈进行评估。我们确定了两种独特的发脾气行为：对他人/物体的攻击（例如，殴打他人）和对自我的攻击（例如，殴打自己）。虽然两种类型的发脾气行为都与儿童早期精神病理学的严重程度相关，但以自我攻击为特征的发脾气行为更能预测以后的精神病理学。表现出两种类型的发脾气行为都较高的儿童在幼儿期有更严重的外化问题，在童年和青春期有更严重的抑郁和对立违抗性障碍。研究结果表明，以攻击自我为特征的发脾气行为尤其预示着后来的精神病理学。