Psychological Reports, 2010, 106, 2, 448-454. © Psychological Reports 2010
A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY OF ONSET, CESSATION,
FREQUENCY, AND DURATION OF CHILDREN’S
TEMPER TANTRUMS IN A NONCLINICAL SAMPLE1
KARIN ÖSTERMAN AND KAJ BJÖRKQVIST
Åbo Akademi University
Summary.—Temper tantrums among young children were investigated with
the questionnaire Parents’ Experiences of Temper Tantrums in Children. Parents of
132 children (101 mothers, 31 fathers) in a largely Swedish-speaking area of Finland
completed the questionnaire. 87% of the parents reported that one or more of their
children had had temper tantrums. Of all children in the study, 64.7% began having
tantrums when they were 2 or 3 years old; 57.1% did not have tantrums anymore
after age five. For 46.5% of the cases, the tantrums lasted between 5 and 10 minutes.
There was no sex difference for age of onset of tantrums, age when tantrums ceased,
age span during which they occurred, frequency, or duration of episodes.
One theory of the development of human aggression by Björkqvist, Lagerspetz, and Kaukiainen (1992) stated that the earliest displays of aggression are physical. Verbal aggression becomes more frequent with general
improvement in verbal skills. When social skills have developed, children
use indirect aggression (social manipulation) as well. Temper tantrums
are usually defined in terms of physical behaviours (for example, throwing oneself to the floor, hitting) and vocalisations (screaming and crying).
In temper tantrums, verbal aggression is not usually sophisticated. The
present authors regard tantrums primarily as responses to experienced
frustration. The children lose control of themselves and lack verbal skill to
express and process their frustration. A successful way of calming temper
tantrums was presented by Karp and Spencer (2004): when children are
too young to express their feelings of distress verbally, parents are taught
how to mirror their children’s feelings with words instead of physical expressions. The present authors, therefore, hypothesized that temper tantrums would diminish when verbal skills are advanced enough.
The earliest systematic study of temper tantrums was conducted by
Goodenough (1931), who studied duration times, tantrum situations, and
activities by children 0 to 7 years of age. Temporal structures in temper
tantrums also have been studied by, for example, Trieschman (1969) and
Bath (1994). In recent years, temper tantrums have been extensively studied by Potegal and his colleagues (Einon & Potegal, 1994; Potegal,
��������������
Kosorok, & Davidson, 1996; Potegal & Davidson, 1997; Potegal, 2000a, 2000b;
Address correspondence to Karin Österman, Åbo Akademi University, Vasa, P.O.B. 311,
65101 Finland or e-mail ([email protected]).
1
DOI 10.2466/PR0.106.2.448-454
ISSN 0033-2941
TEMPER TANTRUMS ACROSS AGE GROUPS
449
Potegal, Kosorok, & Davidson, 2003; Potegal & Archer, 2004). Potegal and
Davidson (2003) reported an increase in the prevalence of tantrums from
87% at 18 to 24 months to 91% at 30 to 36 months, and then a decrease to
59% at 42 to 48 months. Their results are similar to those of a study by
MacFarlane, Allen, and Honzik (1954).
Anthropological studies show that temper tantrums appear in other
cultures, e.g., among the Matsigenkas in Peru (Johnson, 2003). In India,
a study of 800 children indicated that tantrums were most common between the ages of 3 and 5 years, less common between 6 and 8 years, and
least common after the age of 9 (Bhatia, Dhar, Singhal, & Nigam, 1990).
Differences in child care practices and weaning strategies of the Bofi farmers and foragers of Central Africa were studied by Fouts, Hewlett, and
Lamb (2005). Bofi farmers’ children exhibited more extensive fussing and
crying while Bofi foragers’ children showed little or no sign of distress.
Folklore reflects the occurance of temper tantrums in earlier times
as well and in various cultures, such as Japan (Tomm, Suzuki, & Suzuki,
1990) and Scandinavia (Lagerlöf, 1915).
Also, behavior which is similar to temper tantrums has even been reported in chimpanzees (de Waal, 2000). Because temper tantrums of children seem to be common regardless of culture, and may even be universal, study of these is important for understanding the early development
of aggression.
Method
Sample
Swedish-speaking parents (101 mothers, 31 fathers) from Ostrobothnia, Finland, completed a questionnaire about the occurrence of temper
tantrums. The questionnaire was distributed in 11 day care centers. These
parents were between 25 and 49 years of age, with mothers (M = 34.7,
SD = 4.7) being a mean of three years younger than the fathers (M = 37.3,
SD = 4.1; t126 = 2.73, p = .007). This age difference is common in Finland. The
parents were asked to fill in the questionnaire with a particular child in
mind, in case they had more than one child; the total number of children
thus being 132. The mean age of the children at the time of the study was
5.9 yr. (SD = 2.6); 45.5% of the children were girls and 52.3% were boys.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire, Parents’ Experiences of Temper Tantrums in Children, was developed by the authors (Österman & Björkqvist, 2001). Temper tantrums were defined as crying, screaming and shouting, hitting parents or siblings, hitting objects, throwing self onto the floor, being unable
to control one’s self, deliberately hitting one’s own head against something, breaking things, throwing things, running away, and biting.
450
K. ÖSTERMAN & K. BJÖRKQVIST
The questionnaire contained several parts that will not be reported
in the present article, i.e., questions about where and in which situations
temper tantrums occurred, what the parents thought were the reasons for
the tantrums, what they did to stop the tantrums, etc. However, in this
article only data on onset, cessation, frequency, and duration will be presented. The parents were asked to specify the age at which their child
started having temper tantrums, at what age they ceased, the frequency
(number of times per day, week, month, or year), and duration (in minutes) of tantrums.
Results
Age Period During Which Tantrums Occurred
Eighty-seven percent of the 132 parents reported that their child had
demonstrated temper tantrums. Only 1.9% of the children in the study
had had temper tantrums before one year of age. Between the first and
the second birthday, 9.6% began to have tantrums, but temper tantrums
usually started occurring during the second and third years of life. Thirtynine percent started between the second and third birthdays, 25.7% started between the third and fourth birthdays, and 11.4% started between the
fourth and fifth. Of the children who ever had temper tantrums, 76.2% began before age 4. In children who displayed no temper tantrums before
age 8, none occurred at a later age.
In 57.1% of the cases, the tantrums ceased before the child reached age
TABLE 1
Percentages of Children Beginning and Ending
Temper Tantrums in Different Age Groups
Age Span
Onset (n = 105)
n
%
Cessation (n = 77)
n
%
< 1 yr.
2
1.9
0
0
1–2 yr.
10
9.6
0
0
2–3 yr.
41
39.0
6
7.8
3–4 yr.
27
25.7
25
32.5
4–5 yr.
12
11.4
13
16.9
5–6 yr.
8
7.6
16
20.8
6–7 yr.
4
3.8
5
6.5
7–8 yr.
1
1.0
6
7.8
8–9 yr.
0
0
3
3.9
9–10 yr.
0
0
2
2.6
10–11yr.
0
0
0
0
11–12 yr.
0
0
0
0
12–13 yr.
0
0
1
1.3
Note.—Temper tantrums were reported in 105 of 132 cases. The lower n for cessation is due
to the fact that some children still were having tantrums.
TEMPER TANTRUMS ACROSS AGE GROUPS
451
5, and at age 9, only 3.9% had any tantrums (Table 1). There was no significant difference in mean age between girls (2.6 to 5.2 yr.) and boys (2.8 to
5.6 yr.) for an initial temper tantrum or in their cessation.
Length of Time During Which Tantrums Occurred
In 22.3% of the cases, the tantrums occurred during a period of 10 to
12 months, in 26.3% during a period of 2 yr., and in 17.1% during a period
of 3 yr. Individual differences were considerable, ranging from 6 mo. to 11
yr. There was no significant difference between girls (M = 2.6 yr., SD = 1.9)
and boys (M = 2.8 yr., SD = 2.2) regarding the length of the period in which
the tantrums occurred.
Frequency
Temper tantrums occurred once a day for 21.3% of the cases, once a
week for 37.3%, once a month for 30.7%, and once a year for 10.7% of the
cases. There was no significant difference between how often girls and
boys had tantrums. A small, positive but nonsignificant correlation was
found between how often the children had tantrums and the age at which
they ceased (rS = .26, p < .07). The children who had tantrums more often
also tended to stop having tantrums when they were older than others.
Duration of Single Temper-tantrum Episodes
In 8% of the cases, the tantrums lasted less than 5 min., and in 46.5%
between 5 and 10 minutes. In 6% of the cases, the tantrums continued
more than a half hour. Individual differences ranged between 1 and 60
minutes. There was no significant difference in mean duration for girls
(16 min.) and boys (13 min.). Duration of single tantrum episodes was not
correlated with age of onset, age of cessation, duration of tantrum, or frequency of episodes.
Discussion
Parents reported that tantrums usually started during the second or
third year of life, and for 57.1% of the 132 cases, the tantrums ceased before the age of five. Goodenough (1931) also found a clear peak in frequency of outbursts for both girls and boys during the second year and a rapid
decrease after that. Present
������������������������������������������������������
results correspond with those of �������������
Einon and Potegal (1994) who found that 62% of the tantrums began between 12 and 24
months of age. Jenkins, Owen, Bax, and Hart (1984) similarly found that
the most common problem reported for 2-yr.-old children was temper tantrums and that 45% of the children who had frequent tantrums at the age
of 2 were still having frequent tantrums at the age of 3.
In 46.5% of the present cases, the duration of tantrum episodes was
between 5 and 10 minutes, but individual differences were large, between
1 and 60 minutes. This is a longer duration than in some previous research.
452
K. ÖSTERMAN & K. BJÖRKQVIST
Goodenough (1931) stated that almost half of the outbursts fell within 1 to
4 minutes for children of less than 1 to 7 years of age. Research by Potegal,
et al. (2003) with children ages 18 to 60 months indicated that 75% of the
reported tantrums lasted 5 min. or less. Einon and Potegal (1994) suggested that longer durations could occur after age 7. In the present study, duration was not correlated with age of onset of the tantrum period.
In 48.6% of the present cases, the length of the time during which tantrums occurred was between 10 mo. and 2 yr., but no sex differences were
found for the ages during which tantrums occurred, durations of time period when tantrums occurred, their frequency, or the duration of single
temper-tantrum episodes.
The decline in temper tantrums was most rapid for children of 3 to
4 years of age, which coincides with their increased vocabulary. At this
age, children’s conversation increases rapidly and they learn to initiate,
respond, and develop a topic for discussion (Durkin, 1995, p. 238). These
skills likely permit better expression and processing of feelings of anger and frustration, as well as reflect learning alternative and more articulated ways to express frustration or anger. If so, this could explain the
marked decline in tantrums. This description also fits well with the theory
about the development of human aggression proposed by Björkqvist, et al.
(1992). Dionne, Tremblay, Boivin, Laplante, and Pérusse (2003) reported a
negative correlation between language learning and physical aggression
which is consistent with this line of argument.
The present study was conducted in Finland and indicates a somewhat later onset of tantrums than Einon and Potegal (1994) reported for a
sample from the USA. The prevalence of tantrums found by Potegal and
Davidson (2003) was much higher than that of the present study. These
facts suggest cultural variation. There are striking differences in childrearing practices in Finland and the USA as exemplified in the prohibition
of physical punishment of children by law in Finland. This may lead to
higher reports of temper tantrums in the USA. The question whether prohibition of corporal punishment is related to reports of fewer temper tantrums might be tested by international comparisons of frequencies of temper tantrums in nations in which laws prohibit or do not prohibit corporal
punishment of children. Cross-cultural studies of tantrums are required
for the investigation of this matter.
As the present work was based on retrospective reports of parents
and was cross-sectional, possible developmental interpretations are constrained. The present sample cannot be considered representative of any
general population, so further study for this and other reasons is necessary.
TEMPER TANTRUMS ACROSS AGE GROUPS
453
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Accepted March 15, 2010.