Growth Curve Analyses (growth + curve_analysis)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Growth Curve Analyses

  • latent growth curve analysis


  • Selected Abstracts


    A Latent Growth Curve Analysis of Prosocial Behavior Among Rural Adolescents

    JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 2 2007
    Gustavo Carlo
    The present study was designed to investigate stability and changes in prosocial behavior and the parent and peer correlates of prosocial behavior in rural adolescents. Participants were from a rural, low SES community in the Eastern United States. The participants were in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades at Time 1 and 10th, 11th, and 12th grades at Time 4, and completed measures of prosocial behavior and quality of parent and peer relationships. Latent growth curve modeling revealed that despite moderate stability in individual differences in prosocial behavior and slight increases in quality of peer and parent relationships, level of prosocial behavior declined until late high school with a slight rebound in grade 12. Furthermore, increases in the quality of peer relationships predicted decreases in prosocial behavior for girls but not boys. Discussion focuses on continuity and change in prosocial behavior and the gender-based relations between quality of parent and peer relationships and prosocial behaviors in adolescence. [source]


    A Latent Growth Curve Analysis of the Structure of Aggression, Drug Use, and Delinquent Behaviors and Their Interrelations Over Time in Urban and Rural Adolescents

    JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 2 2005
    Albert D. Farrell
    Latent growth curve analysis was used to examine the structure and interrelations among aggression, drug use, and delinquent behavior during early adolescence. Five waves of data were collected from 667 students at three urban middle schools serving a predominantly African American population, and from a more ethnically diverse sample of 950 students at four rural middle schools. One set of models focused on changes in individual behaviors; the other on changes in a global problem behavior factor. Models with separate growth trajectories for aggression, drug use, and delinquent behavior provided the best fit for both samples and revealed relations between initial levels of aggression and subsequent changes in the other behaviors. Boys and girls differed in their initial levels of these behaviors, but not their patterns of change. Differences in growth curve trajectories were found across samples. These findings have important implications for assessment and prevention of problem behaviors in adolescents. [source]


    Growth curve analyses are best suited to examine the relation between developmental pathways and selective breeding: Comment on Hofer, Shair, Masmela, & Brunelli, "Developmental effects of selective breeding for an infantile trait: The rat pup ultrasonic isolation call"

    DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2001
    George F. Michel
    Abstract Hofer, Brunelli, Shair, & Masmela (2001) provide valuable information about the effects of selective breeding on rat-pup behaviors and physiology. Although the design and statistical analytic techniques employed are typical of those used to evaluate behavioral development in animals, I offer several suggestions about how to evaluate the influence of selective breeding on developmental pathways using modern statistical techniques. As Hofer et al. demonstrate, the development of rat behavior and physiology can be an excellent model for examining the relation between selection and development. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 39: 247,250, 2001 [source]


    Do premorbid impairments predict emergent ,prodromal' symptoms in young relatives at risk for schizophrenia?

    EARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2009
    Matcheri S. Keshavan
    Abstract Aims: Individuals at risk for developing schizophrenia (SZ) in the future frequently exhibit subtle behavioural and neurobiological abnormalities in their childhood. A better understanding of the role of these abnormalities in predicting later onset of ,prodromal' symptoms or psychosis may help in early identification of SZ. Methods: In an ongoing prospective follow-up study of young genetically at-risk relatives of patients with SZ, we studied the prevalence of problems in premorbid social adjustment and childhood psychopathology and examined their relationship with the presence and progression of ,prodromal' symptoms of SZ. Results: Growth curve analyses showed that ,prodromal' symptoms, as measured by the Scale of ,Prodromal' Symptoms, increased during follow-up. Premorbid maladjustment and childhood behavioural disturbances were cross-sectionally correlated broadly with ,prodromal' symptomatology scores. Longitudinal analyses revealed that behavioural disturbances, but not childhood maladjustment at baseline, significantly predicted increases in ,prodromal' symptomatology during the 2-year study period. Conclusion: Premorbid behavioural disturbance and maladjustment may predict the later emergence of ,prodromal' symptoms. ,Prodromal' symptoms in young at-risk relatives may define a subgroup worthy of follow-up into the age of risk for psychosis in order to cost-effectively characterize the predictors of psychotic symptoms and SZ. [source]


    Changes in individual and group spatial and verbal learning characteristics after anterior temporal lobectomy

    EPILEPSIA, Issue 6 2009
    Mario F. Dulay
    Summary Purpose:, To evaluate the effects of anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) on individual and group spatial and verbal learning and memory abilities as a function of side of surgery and seizure control outcome. Methods:, We evaluated pre- and postsurgical learning and memory abilities of 75 left-hemisphere language dominant individuals who underwent ATL (33 left, 42 right) using the 8-trial Nonverbal Selective Reminding test and the 12-trial Verbal Selective Reminding test. Results:, Reliable change index methods indicated that 40.5% of individuals who underwent right-ATL had a clinically significant decline in spatial memory, and 62.5% of individuals who underwent left-ATL had a significant reduction in verbal memory. Growth curve analyses indicated that both side of surgery and poor seizure outcome independently affected the learning slope in the best fitting models. Left-ATL reduced the slope, but did not affect the overall shape, of verbal learning across trials. On the other hand, poor seizure control outcome affected the slope of spatial learning regardless of the side of surgery. Discussion:, Results demonstrate both individual and group declines in spatial memory and learning after ATL. Results suggest that individuals who undergo right-ATL should be counseled regarding the likelihood of a decline in spatial memory and learning abilities after ATL. Results also suggest that individuals with poor seizure control after ATL should be referred for rehabilitation services given the significant declines in spatial and verbal memory that occurred in our sample regardless of side of surgery. [source]


    Attractions and constraints as determinants of relationship commitment: Longitudinal evidence from gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples

    PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 3 2000
    LAWRENCE A. KURDEK
    The proposition that commitment to a relationship is uniquely determined by forces that draw one to the relationship (attractions) and forces that prevent one from leaving the relationship (constraints) was tested with five annual waves of longitudinal data from two samples: both partners from 155 married couples and both partners from 57 gay couples and 50 lesbian couples. Growth curve analyses that controlled for the interdependence of partners' scores indicated that, for both heterosexual and gay/lesbian couples, variability in one's own commitment was uniquely predicted by one's own attractions and one's own constraints, interactions involving one's own attractions and one's own constraints, and one's partner's attractions. It is concluded that attractions and constraints exert unique dynamic effects on maintaining a close relationship. [source]


    Stress in Childhood and Adulthood: Effects on Marital Quality Over Time

    JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 5 2005
    Debra Umberson
    We work from a stress and life course perspective to consider how stress affects trajectories of change in marital quality over time. Specifically, we ask whether stress is more likely to undermine the quality of marital experiences at different points in the life course. In addition, we ask whether the effects of adult stress on marital quality depend on childhood family stress experiences. Growth curve analysis of data from a national longitudinal survey (Americans' Changing Lives, N =1,059 married individuals) reveals no evidence of age differences in the effects of adult stress on subsequent trajectories of change in marital experiences. Our results, however, suggest that the effects of adult stress on marital quality may depend on childhood stress exposure. Stress in adulthood appears to take a cumulative toll on marriage over time,but this toll is paid primarily by individuals who report a more stressful childhood. This toll does not depend on the timing of stress in the adult life course. [source]


    Incarceration and drug use patterns among a cohort of injection drug users

    ADDICTION, Issue 1 2009
    Kora DeBeck
    ABSTRACT Aims Drug law enforcement remains the dominant response to drug-related harm. However, the impact of incarceration on deterring drug use remains under-evaluated. We sought to explore the relationship between incarceration and patterns of drug use among people who inject drugs (IDU). Design Using generalized estimating equations (GEE), we examined the prevalence and correlates of injection cessation among participants in the Vancouver Injection Drug User Study followed over 9 years. In subanalyses, we used McNemar's tests and linear growth curve analyses to assess changes in drug use patterns before and after a period of incarceration among participants reporting incarceration and those not incarcerated. Findings Among 1603 IDU, 842 (53%) reported injection cessation for at least 6 months at some point during follow-up. In multivariate GEE analyses, recent incarceration was associated negatively with injection cessation [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.43, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.37,0.50], whereas the use of methadone was associated positively with cessation (AOR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.22,1.56). In subanalyses assessing longitudinal patterns of drug use among incarcerated individuals and those not incarcerated over the study period, linear growth curve analyses indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in patterns of drug use between the two groups (all P > 0.05). Conclusions These observational data suggest that incarceration does not reduce drug use among IDU. Incarceration may inhibit access to mechanisms that promote injection cessation among IDU. In contrast, results indicate that methadone use is associated positively with injection cessation, independent of previous frequency of drug use. [source]


    Does sports participation during adolescence prevent later alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use?

    ADDICTION, Issue 1 2009
    Tove Wichstrøm
    ABSTRACT Aims To study whether participation in organized sports during adolescence predicts increased smoking of tobacco, alcohol intoxication and cannabis use from late adolescence to adulthood when controlling for potential confounders. Moreover, to study whether such increased drug use varies according to type of sport (team versus individual), main skills needed (endurance, strength or technical) and level of competition. Design, setting and participants Survey of national sample of Norwegian high school students (aged 13,19 years) in 1992 (T1) followed-up in 1994 (T2), 1999 (T3) and 2006 (T4) (n = 3251). Measurements Outcome measures included smoking of tobacco and 12-month prevalences of alcohol intoxication and cannabis use, respectively. Confounders included pubertal timing, friends' drug use, perceived social acceptance, grades and parental socio-economic status. Findings Latent growth curve analyses showed that initial level of participation in organized sports predicted growth in alcohol intoxication. Those involved initially in team sports had greater growth in alcohol intoxication, but lower growth in tobacco use and cannabis use, during the adolescent and early adult years compared to those involved in technical or strength sports. Practising endurance sports, as opposed to technical or strength sports, predicted reduced growth in alcohol intoxication and tobacco use. Conclusions Sports participation in adolescence, and participation in team sports in particular, may increase the growth in alcohol intoxication during late adolescent and early adult years, whereas participation in team sports and endurance sports may reduce later increase in tobacco and cannabis use. [source]


    Big Five personality development in adolescence and adulthood

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 1 2007
    Susan J. T. Branje
    Abstract The present article examines Big Five personality development across adolescence and middle adulthood. Two adolescents and their fathers and mothers from 285 Dutch families rated their own and their family members' personality. Using accelerated longitudinal growth curve analyses, mean level change in Big Five factors was estimated. For boys, Extraversion and Openness decreased and for girls, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness increased. Whereas mothers' Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness increased, fathers' Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability decreased. Differences in self- and other-reported personality change were found, as well as interindividual differences in personality change. Results confirm that personality change is possible across the life course but these changes are not similar for all individuals and depend on the type of observer. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Do children with autism spectrum disorders show a shape bias in word learning?

    AUTISM RESEARCH, Issue 4 2008
    Saime Tek
    Abstract Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) acquire a sizeable lexicon. However, these children also seem to understand and/or store the meanings of words differently from typically developing children. One of the mechanisms that helps typically developing children learn novel words is the shape bias, in which the referent of a noun is mapped onto the shape of an object, rather than onto its color, texture, or size. We hypothesized that children with autistic disorder would show reduced or absent shape bias. Using the intermodal preferential looking paradigm , we compared the performance of young children with ASD and typically developing children (TYP), across four time points, in their use of shape bias. Neither group showed a shape bias at Visit 1, when half of the children in both groups produced fewer than 50 count nouns. Only the TYP group showed a shape bias at Visits 2, 3, and 4. According to the growth curve analyses, the rate of increase in the shape bias scores over time was significant for the TYP children. The fact that the TYP group showed a shape bias at 24 months of age, whereas children with ASD did not demonstrate a shape bias despite a sizeable vocabulary, supports a dissociation between vocabulary size and principles governing acquisition in ASD children from early in language development. [source]


    Effects of Aggression on Achievement: Does Conflict With the Teacher Make It Worse?

    CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2008
    Deborah Stipek
    This longitudinal study examined different explanations for negative associations between aggression and academic achievement using data collected from 403 children from low-income families followed from kindergarten or first grade (ages 6 and 7 years) through fifth grade (ages 10,11 years). Most results of growth curve analyses examining change over time and path analyses examining associations among the variables within grades were consistent with the hypothesis that the effect of aggression on achievement was partially mediated by the conflictual relationships relatively more aggressive children tended to develop with their teachers and concomitant reductions in engagement in academic tasks. The evidence suggested, however, that the relationship between aggression and achievement is complex and reciprocal. Gender differences were also observed. [source]


    Does Chronic Classroom Peer Rejection Predict the Development of Children's Classroom Participation During the Grade School Years?

    CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2008
    Gary W. Ladd
    A sample of 398 children was followed up from ages 5 to 12 to investigate the relation between peer group rejection and classroom participation. The participation trajectories of individuals and groups of children who were rejected for differing periods of time were examined both during and after rejection using piecewise growth curve analyses. The results showed that whereas during periods of rejection, children exhibited negative or negligible growth in participation, when nonrejected, they manifested positive growth. These findings corroborated the hypothesis that (a) peer rejection creates constraints that inhibit children's classroom participation and (b) the cessation of rejection enables children to become more active and cooperative participants in classroom activities. [source]


    Early detection of relapse in panic disorder

    ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 5 2004
    M. R. Mavissakalian
    Objective:, To explore predictive models of relapsing based on change in symptoms at a time when panic disorder patients are still in remission following discontinuation of antidepressants. Method:, Forty-seven subjects, who were randomized to double-blind placebo and who had valid data at four time points: pretreatment, randomization to placebo substitution, an assessment on placebo prior to the last assessment or relapse and their last assessment (relapsers n = 15, non-relapsers n = 32) were studied using descriptive, growth curve analysis and logistic regression methodologies. Results:, Measures of generalized anxiety, fearfulness and disability at work and at home were better predictors of relapse than measures of panic and anxiety sensitivity. Logistic regression models using any one of these four general variables and its linear change correctly predicted relapse for 78.7,84.4% of the study subjects. Conclusion:, It is possible to gauge, with a fair degree of accuracy, the probability of relapsing in panic disorder patients who have discontinued serotonergic antidepressants 2 months prior to the return of panic. [source]


    A latent growth-curve approach to difficult temperament

    INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2007
    Ty Partridge
    A purported hallmark of temperament characteristics is that they appear very early in the course of development and are persistent across time and situation. There is, however, a small, but growing cadre of research findings that question this traditional view. It may be that temperament characteristics are not necessarily established during the first few months of development or are not stable over time. A secondary analysis of the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS) temperament data was conducted to investigate the hypothesis that temperament has a complex developmental course over the first five years of development. A latent growth curve analysis of difficult temperament suggests that temperament development follows a non-linear trajectory. This finding, in concert with related findings, suggests the need for a broader discussion of the possible developmental processes that underlie these patterns. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Assessing the longitudinal course of depression and economic integration of south-east Asian refugees: an application of latent growth curve analysis

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 4 2002
    K.A.S. Wickrama
    Abstract This paper has both methodological and substantive application for mental-health researchers. Methodologically, it presents the latent growth curve (LGC) technique within a structural equation modelling (SEM) framework as a powerful tool to analyse change in depressive symptoms and potential correlates of such changes. The rationale for LGC analysis and subsequent elaboration of this statistical approach are presented. The limitations of traditional analytical methods are also addressed. Substantively, the paper considers socio-contextual factors as correlates of change in symptoms, and examines the dynamic systematic relationship with the degree of economic integration of south-east Asian immigrants in Canada over time. Using the LGC technique, this study also investigated how the longitudinal course of sub-clinical depression places individuals at risk for developing full-blown major depression. The LGC results provided strong evidence for the reciprocal influence between economic integration and subclinical depression of immigrants. The initial level of economic integration negatively influenced the rate of change in subclinical depression whereas the initial level of sub-clinical depression negatively influenced the rate of change in economic integration. Both initial level and the rate of change in subclinical depression placed individuals at risk for full-blown major depression. However, traditional auto-regressive models were not capable of revealing these dynamic associations. Thus, an investigation of within-individual change in symptoms and potential correlates of such changes is necessary to understand the process that results in full-blown mental disorder. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]


    A Latent Growth Curve Analysis of the Structure of Aggression, Drug Use, and Delinquent Behaviors and Their Interrelations Over Time in Urban and Rural Adolescents

    JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 2 2005
    Albert D. Farrell
    Latent growth curve analysis was used to examine the structure and interrelations among aggression, drug use, and delinquent behavior during early adolescence. Five waves of data were collected from 667 students at three urban middle schools serving a predominantly African American population, and from a more ethnically diverse sample of 950 students at four rural middle schools. One set of models focused on changes in individual behaviors; the other on changes in a global problem behavior factor. Models with separate growth trajectories for aggression, drug use, and delinquent behavior provided the best fit for both samples and revealed relations between initial levels of aggression and subsequent changes in the other behaviors. Boys and girls differed in their initial levels of these behaviors, but not their patterns of change. Differences in growth curve trajectories were found across samples. These findings have important implications for assessment and prevention of problem behaviors in adolescents. [source]


    Parents and partners in crime: a six-year longitudinal study on changes in supportive relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood

    THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 7 2004
    W. Meeus
    Background:, This study sought the answer to three questions: 1. Is having an intimate partner associated with the level of delinquency? 2. Does the quality of the relationship with an intimate partner, operationalised as partner support, predict the level of delinquency? 3. Does a relationship with an intimate partner or age moderate the association between parental support and delinquency? Method:, Data from a three-wave, six-year longitudinal study of 1302 adolescents and young adults, aged 12,23 at wave 1, were used. Results:, 1. Univariate latent growth curve analysis showed that, as predicted, having an intimate partner does not lead to less criminality among young adults over the age of 20. We found no support for the hypothesis among the group of 12- to 20-year-old adolescents, since the group of mid-adolescents who consistently have a partner is more criminal than the other groups. 2. Our findings show that partner support is negatively related to criminality in both 12- to 20-year-olds and 21- to 23-year-olds. The longitudinal effect of partner support is also uni-directional: partner support T1 certainly has an impact on criminality T3, but the reverse is not true. In both groups the influence of partner support is also greater than that of parental support. 3. Having an intimate partner moderates the association between parental support and delinquency, but in an age-specific manner. Parental support has no bearing on criminality when adolescents and young adults continuously have an intimate partner. Parental support does, however, cause a reduction in the level of criminality in adolescents and young adults who have never had a partner and adolescents who only have a partner at time 3. Conclusions:, We interpret our results in terms of shifts in the relational system: if an adolescent finds a partner, that partner takes over the role of the parents in reducing criminality; if not, the parents remain important in doing so. [source]


    Linked Lives: Stability and Change in Maternal Circumstances and Trajectories of Antisocial Behavior in Children

    CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2004
    Ross Macmillan
    Drawing on the notion of linked lives, this study examined the effects of stability and change in maternal circumstance on developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior in children 4 to 7 years of age. Using data from a national sample of young mothers and growth curve analysis, the study demonstrated that early maternal circumstances influences early antisocial behavior, whereas stability and change in these circumstances both exacerbate and ameliorate behavior problems. Of particular note, meaningful escape from poverty attenuates antisocial behavior whereas persistence in poverty or long-term movement into poverty intensifies such problems. These findings highlight the importance of structural context for parenting practices and the need to consider child development in light of dynamic and changing life-course fortunes of parents. [source]