Mood Swings: Most Teens Outgrow Aggressive Traits

Teenagers might seem to be jumping from one emotion to the next, but new research shows that it's probably just a phase. In other words, teens are likely to outgrow their flippant mood swings (at least, parents hope so.)

Researchers at VU University Amsterdam, the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Utrecht University and Tilburg University found young people figure out how to more readily deal with problems that affect mood with both time and experience in controlling stressful issues.

In this recent study, researchers followed close to 500 middle- to high-income Dutch adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18. Forty percent of the participants were at high risk for externalizing behaviors at age 12, ranging from aggressive traits to delinquent behavior. They were asked to rate daily moods based on anger, anxiety, happiness and sadness for three weeks of the school year for five years.

"We found that early adolescence is the period of greatest volatility but adolescents gradually stabilize their moods," study co-author Hans M. Koot said, in a statement. "An important message to teens, parents and teachers is that temporary mood swings during early adolescence might actually be normal and aren't necessarily a reason to worry."

"In general, heightened mood variability will eventually pass," Dominique F. Maciejewski, first author of the study, added. "By demonstrating that most teens get less moody across adolescence, our study provides a solid basis for identifying adolescents who develop in a deviant way. In particular, teens who continue to be extremely moody or who get even moodier across adolescence may need to be monitored more closely since earlier studies have shown that extreme mood swings are related to more emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems."

The study is published in the journal Child Development.

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