Penn State Penn State: College of the Liberal Arts
Gene Environment Interplay
Across the Lifespan
  1. Project
  2.  | Liu, C., Moore, G. A., Beekman, C., Perez-Edgar, K. E., Leve, L. D., Shaw, D. S., Ganiban, J. M., Natsuaki, M. N., Reiss, D., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (2018). Developmental patterns of anger from infancy to middle childhood predict problem behaviors at age 8. Developmental Psychology, 54, 2090-2100.

Liu, C., Moore, G. A., Beekman, C., Perez-Edgar, K. E., Leve, L. D., Shaw, D. S., Ganiban, J. M., Natsuaki, M. N., Reiss, D., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (2018). Developmental patterns of anger from infancy to middle childhood predict problem behaviors at age 8. Developmental Psychology, 54, 2090-2100.

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Anger is a central characteristic of negative affect and is relatively stable from infancy and into middle childhood and beyond. Absolute levels of anger typically peak in early childhood and diminish as children become socialized and better able to manage their emotions. From infancy to school-age, however, there are individual differences in rank-order levels of anger. Little is known about variations in developmental patterns of anger and how they may be related to children’s school-age behavioral adjustment. The current study (N = 361) examined how distinct patterns of parent-reported child anger from 9 months to age 7 were related to externalizing and internalizing problems at age 8. Group-based trajectory analysis identified six groups: Low/Stable, Average/Stable, Average/Decreasing, Average/Increasing, High/Decreasing and High/Stable. Most children (65.1%) were in low to average anger groups. However, 34.9% of the children were in the Average/Increasing and High/Stable groups. Children in the High/Stable groups (6.7%) showed elevated levels of externalizing and internalizing problems at age 8. Findings contribute to the literature seeking to distinguish normative, age-related anger development from potentially problematic anger development across childhood.

Skills

Posted on

September 19, 2022