Does aversive behavior during toddlerhood matter? The effects of difficult temperament on maternal perceptions and behavior

Seventy-three mothers and their toddlers were observed when the children were 18 and 24 months of age in a series of laboratory procedures designed to assess relations among frustration distress, aggression/venting, and defiance, as indicators of aversive behavior, and their relations to maternal interactive style concurrently and over time, A second goal was to identify the predictors of aversive behavior at 24 months of age. Child aversive behavior as a predictor of increases in maternal negativity over time was also examined. Results indicated that distress, venting, and defiance were related to one another at 18 months of age. For boys, venting at 24 months of age, but not distress or defiance, was associated with greater maternal report of stress and higher incidence of behavior problems at 24 months of age. Venting behavior at 24 months of age was predicted by the interaction of early aversive behavior and low maternal positive guiding behavior. Increases in maternal negative behavior over the six-month period were predicted by the interaction of earlier negative maternal behavior and child sex, with negative mothers of boys displaying greater increases in negative behavior at the later age. These findings are discussed in terms of the significance of early aversive behavior, in the context of mother-child interaction, for later problematic behavior.