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Cited by 727Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPersonality Traits and PsychologyAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

Moving against the world: Life-course patterns of explosive children.

Caspi, Avshalom, Elder, Glen H., Bem, Daryl J.·1987·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/0012-1649.23.2.308
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Abstract

Do ill-tempered children become ill-tempered adults? What are the life-course consequences of such an explosive interactional style? What processes can account for the persistence of maladaptive behavior across time and circumstance? To answer these questions, this study used data from the Berkeley Guidance Study (Macfarlane, Allen, & Honzik, 1954) to identify children with a pattern of temper tantrums in late childhood (ages 8-10) and to trace the continuities and consequences of this behavioral style across the subsequent 30 years of their lives. Life-course continuities in this behavioral style were found for both sexes. Men with histories of childhood tantrums experienced downward occupational mobility, erratic work lives, and were likely to divorce. Women with such histories married men with lower occupational status, were likely to divorce, and became ill-tempered mothers. It is proposed that maladaptive behaviors are sustained through the progressive accumulation of their own consequences (cumulative continuity) and by evoking maintaining responses from others during reciprocal social interaction (interactional continuity). The need to delay gratification, control impulses, and modulate emotional expression is the earliest and most ubiquitous demand that society places on the developing child, and success at many life tasks depends critically on the individual's mastery of such control. In this article, we looked back at the life histories of children who were failing to achieve such mastery, who, at age 10, were still reacting to childhood frustration and adult authority with explosive temper tantrums. We sought to discover whether such ill-tempered children become ill-tempered adults and, if they do, what the causes and consequences of such continuity are. The continuity of maladaptive behavior has long been recognized as a challenge to psychological theory. If behavior is largely sustained by its consequences, then adaptive behaviors should show continuity almost by definition. (Research confirms that it is the adaptive or ego resilient individual whose personality displays the strongest continuity across the life course [Block, 1971].) But why should maladaptive behaviors persist? What are the processes that sustain them across time and circumstance?

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Crossref · 10.1037/0012-1649.23.2.308

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  • Because of recursion and interaction, the benefits of an intervention can maintain themselves through the progressive accumulation of their own consequences.

    “Because of recursion and interaction, the benefits of an intervention can maintain themselves through the progressive accumulation of their own consequences (see Caspi et al. 1987).”

    From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Caspi et al. 1987

  • Effects then reverberate through the interconnected forces in a social system.

    “Effects then reverberate through the interconnected forces in a social system (Caspi et al. 1987;Caspi & Moffitt 1995;Elder 1974Elder , 1998;;Lewin 1997Lewin /1948;;Wilson 2011).”

    From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Caspi et al. 1987

  • Other traditions have shown the striking continuity of personality over time.

    “Although social psychology has long demonstrated the malleability of human behavior (Ross & Nisbett 2011), other traditions have shown the striking continuity of personality over time (e.g., Caspi et al. 1987, Caspi & Moffitt 1995).”

    From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Caspi et al. 1987

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Authors
Caspi, A., Elder, G. H., & Bem, D. J.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
ORCID
Caspi, Avshalom
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1987-03
Volume
23
Issue
2
Pages
308-313
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/0012-1649.23.2.308
OpenAlex
W2069144694
Cited by
727
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 37
FWCI
10.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
tantrums, explosive behavior, occupational mobility, divorce, maternal hostility, impulse control, emotion regulation

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