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Continuity and change in anger and aggressiveness from infancy to childhood: The protective effects of positive parenting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2020

Oliver Perra ,
Amy L. Paine Open the ORCID record for Amy L. Paine [Opens in a new window]  and
Dale F. Hay Open the ORCID record for Dale F. Hay [Opens in a new window]
Oliver Perra
Affiliation:
School of Nursing and Midwifery & Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
Amy L. Paine
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Dale F. Hay*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Dale F. Hay, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, 70 Park Place, CardiffCF10 3AT, UK; E-mail: haydf@cardiff.ac.uk.
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Abstract

Early signs of anger and aggression can be identified in infancy. Our aim was to use person-centered methods to identify which infants were most at risk for clinically significant behavioral problems by age 3 and diagnoses of ODD/CD by 7 years, while considering the role of family risk factors and positive parenting. A representative British community sample of 304 infants was assessed by multiple informants at mean ages of 6, 21, and 36 months of age. Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) identified three ordered subgroups at each age, with one subgroup (18%) displaying high levels of physical force as well as anger. These angry aggressive infants were at elevated risk for behavioral problems in early childhood and diagnoses of conduct disorder (CD) and/or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) at 7 years of age. After other risk factors were taken into account, parents' beliefs in warm parenting and their observed positive affect while interacting with their infants were protective factors. These findings indicate the significance of very early manifestations of angry aggressiveness and have relevance for developmental theories of aggression and prevention strategies.

Keywords

aggressive conduct problemsconduct disorderperson-centered analysesoppositional defiant disorderpositive parenting
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 937 - 956
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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