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Developmentally Appropriate vs. Persistent Defiant and Aggressive Behavior

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Regulatory Disorders in Infants

Abstract

Defiance emerges out of states of stress that are intolerable to the child, generally as a result of frustration. How well a child is able to rely not only on parental co-regulation but also on its own growing powers of self-regulation in moments of emotional crisis is crucial to its further psychological development. If these efforts at regulation succeed “well enough,” one refers to “normal” defiance and “normal” temper tantrums in this developmental phase of the second and third years of life. However, if defiance becomes excessive and, more particularly, persists, parent–child interactions and relationships become compromised. Older children exhibiting aggressive behavior and failing to comply with rules (which is usually perceived by the parents as disobedience) are described from a diagnostic perspective as children with oppositional behavior.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Psychosocial Prevention, University Hospital Heidelberg, Bergheimer Str. 54, Heidelberg, 69115, Germany

    Manfred Cierpka M.D.

  2. Private Practice, Keplerstr. 1, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany

    Astrid Cierpka Dipl.Soz.Arb.

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  1. Manfred Cierpka M.D.
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  2. Astrid Cierpka Dipl.Soz.Arb.
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Correspondence to Manfred Cierpka M.D. .

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  1. Institute for Psychosocial Prevention, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Cierpka

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Cierpka, M., Cierpka, A. (2016). Developmentally Appropriate vs. Persistent Defiant and Aggressive Behavior. In: Cierpka, M. (eds) Regulatory Disorders in Infants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43556-5_7

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