A Cross-Sectional Study of Onset, Cessation, Frequency, and Duration of Children's Temper Tantrums in a Nonclinical Sample

Abstract

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.