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The Tantrum IndexHow do you measure aggression in a 2-year-old?

By Brian PalmerPosted Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, at 6:24 PM ET

Angry child. How do you measure aggression in a toddler?In a study released Tuesday, researchers determined that children who were spanked as 1-year-olds were more likely to behave aggressively at age 2. How do you measure the aggression of a 2-year-old?

Ask the parents. Psychologists send out a standard questionnaire, called the Child Behavior Checklist (PDF), which uses 100 descriptive phrases to rate a toddler's actions over the past two months. These include acts of violence—like "Hits others" and "Cruel to animals"—and more inwardly focused behaviors—like "Uncooperative" and "Plays with own sex parts too much." Parents mark down 0, 1, or 2 for each phrase, depending on how well it applies to their kid. Then researchers add up the values for a specific subset of the items—usually 15 or 20—to create an index of toddler aggression. The most peaceful tot would score a zero; the most feisty, a 30 or 40.

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There's some controversy over which behaviors on the checklist should be counted toward "aggression." For example, the standard set counts temper tantrums—which may or may not include acts of violence—alongside, say, throwing a cat against the wall. Since there's no weighting of one item against another, these two behaviors would contribute equally to a toddler's measured aggression. Opponents of the index say it may invite laypeople to assume that poor and Hispanic toddlers—who tend to score higher in aggression than other kids—are especially violent.

The checklist can be used to measure large groups of children quickly and without too much expense. (There were 2,573 child subjects in the study published Tuesday.) It also allows toddlers to be observed and assessed at home, rather than in the unnatural environment of a behavior laboratory. But not every parent will respond to the questionnaire in the same way. Parents who spank, for example, may be more likely to view their child as being aggressive (and thus deserving of corporal punishment).

Related in Slate

Emily Bazelon advocated a nationwide ban on spanking. Dahlia Lithwick reviewed the Canadian Supreme Court decision permitting parents and teachers to spank. Patty and Sandy Stonesifer proposed volunteer projects for 3-year-olds.

For smaller studies of toddler aggression, researchers often try to observe the child directly and videotape the session for later review. They'll put the child in a room with a parent or some peers and then create a provocative situation—a limited number of toys, perhaps, or an inattentive parent. Then the observers make a note whenever the child engages in an aggressive behavior—like screaming at someone, throwing a punch, or kicking the wall. Each session is broken down into time intervals of about 10 seconds each, and the acts of aggression are divided up according to the times when they occurred. Then overall scores are tallied in two ways—as the amount of time that elapsed before the child's first aggressive act and as the percentage of time intervals during which the child was riled up.

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Explainer thanks Lisa Berlin of Duke University and Daniel S. Shaw of the University of Pittsburgh.

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Brian Palmer is a freelance writer living in New York City. He can be reached at .

Photograph of angry child by Photodisc.

COMMENTS

That's the age they realize they've been deceived into entering the cold harsh world, so they're angry at those who brought them here.

Of course its bunk, it's probably their changing brain chemistry and hormone interaction that causes them to be filled with rage, much in the same way as teenagers. But doesn't it sound like it could be true?

-- el_barto2
(To reply, click here)

I don't think any toddler has existential angst like the OP is saying! In fact quite the opposite- Toddlers are the most easily amused people you'll ever come across. They are far from being depressed about having been born.

I do agree that a lot of times toddlers become unmanageable due to lack of sleep. I think every parent finds out the hard way that you need to stick to a sleeping schedule or there is hell to pay later.

Another way a toddler can become enraged is when you take away the little autonomy that they have acquired. For example- if your toddler has the habit of throwing his or his baby brother's diaper into the diaper pail- in his mind this has become 'his job'. If one day you're in a hurry and you grab that diaper out of his hand and toss it into the bin yourself- the little guy can blow his lid because you've taken away 'his job'. Other 'jobs' my include flushing the toilet, turning off the lights, taking off his shoes, etc, etc. In a toddler's mind everything has a time and place. He performs his job and performs his 'sacred rituals', and he can't tolerate any interference there.

-- icemilkcoffee
(To reply, click here)

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