Temper Tantrums May Be More Than Terrible Twos: Researchers

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All parents have been there at one time or another. Their usually most adorable child ever has a major meltdown in public and throws a tantrum that seems too large to come from such a tiny body. People stare. Some — most likely other parents — offer sympathetic look, but others mumble under their breaths.

Is it just the “terrible twos”?

Perhaps not.

The tantrum could escalate into aggression, stealing and fighting over time, according to a new study.

In the study, published Friday by the American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Michigan, Penn State University, the University of Oregon and several other universities have found clues that identify which children may be at risk for antisocial behavio and the sources of those early problems.

Luke Hyde, an assistant professor of psychology at the of Michigan and lead author of the study, said researchers studied what are called “callous-unemotional” behaviors in the toddler years — for example, a lack of empathy, lying and little emotion, or a child who bullies others with no regard for how the victim feels.

“These are signs for parents and doctors to watch out for, as they may signal more than just the terrible twos,” Hyde said in a news release announcing the study.

Hyde and his colleagues said that most children grow out of the terrible twos and become well adjusted, but failure to correct the behaviors at a young age could result in legal problems later in life.

They cited research that shows most career criminals displayed signs of antisocial behavior as toddlers.

Penn State psychology professor Jenae Neiderhiser, who co-led the collection of data for the study, said callous-unemotional behaviors are distinct from other behavioral problems.

"If we can identify these kids early we may have a better chance of intervening in a child's development," she said.

Beyond identifying behaviors that may be early signs of trouble, the researchers' newest work sheds light on the origins of the behaviors. Decades of research have shown that harsh and negative parenting is linked to the development of antisocial behavior.

"The challenge in this research has been knowing the true origins of these behaviors because parents both take care of their child and provide their child's genes,” said Hyde, who is also affiliated with U-M’s Center for Human Growth and Development and the Institute for Social Research.

“So it's been difficult to know if we're seeing that parenting causes CU behaviors, or is just a sign of the genes being passed to the child," Hyde said.

This is the first known study to focus on the causes of early callous-unemotional behaviors.

To examine the role of nature versus nurture, the team followed 561 families in the Early Growth and Development Study, an adoption study which documented biological mothers' history of severe antisocial behavior, as well as adoptive parent and child behaviors.

Observations of adoptive mother positive reinforcement took place when the child was 18 months of age, and at 27 months, researchers examined the child's behavior.

The team found that the biological mothers' antisocial behavior predicted CU behaviors in their children who were adopted as infants, despite having limited or no contact with them.

That is, CU behaviors were inherited.

However, researchers found high levels of positive reinforcement by adoptive mothers helped to mitigate CU behaviors in their adopted children.

"These findings are important because they mean that treatment programs that help parents learn to be more positive can help to stem the development of CU behaviors," said Rebecca Waller, a U-M research fellow who contributed to the study.

The team will be following this group of children through early adolescence to determine if these behaviors still persist from toddlerhood.

"The really exciting take-home message from this study is that small, day-to-day positive interactions that parents have with their young children can make a huge difference in children's development," said Leslie Leve, a professor at the University of Oregon who co-led the collection of the data for this study.

"Even when a child has inherited a very challenging set of behaviors, hearing 'good job' or receiving a pat on the back can help protect that child from developing serious problems stemming from their inherited difficulties,” Leve said.

The study, which is supported of the National Institutes of Health and Penn State's Social Science Research Institute, is the second in a series of papers led by Hyde and Waller.

Other project researchers include Christopher Trentacosta, associate professor of psychology, Wayne State University; Daniel Shaw, professor of psychology, University of Pittsburgh; Jody Ganiban, professor of clinical/developmental psychology, George Washington University; and David Reiss, clinical professor, Yale University.

Image credit: Paul via Flickr / Creative Commons