Advances In Growth Curve And Structural Equation Modeling

This book describes recent trends in growth curve modelling research in various subject areas, both theoretical and applied. It explains and explores the growth curve model as a valuable tool for gaining insights into several research topics of interest to academics and practitioners alike. The book’s primary goal is to disseminate applications of the growth curve model to real-world problems, and to address related theoretical issues. The book will be of interest to a broad readership: for applied statisticians, it illustrates the importance of growth curve modelling as applied to actual field data; for more theoretically inclined statisticians, it highlights a number of theoretical issues that warrant further investigation.

This book explains and explores the growth curve model as a tool to gain insights into various research topics of interest to academics and practitioners alike. It includes studies on growth models for repeated measurement mixture experiments, and optimal designs for growth prediction in order to find an optimum design for the most efficient estimation of the parameters of the mixture models. It presents longitudinal studies conducted on the mathematical aptitude and intelligence quotient of tribal population in North Eastern states of India, and innovative statistical analysis showing that the status of tribes is improving over time. These results are supplemented by similar cross- sectional studies, and a retrospective longitudinal study of the social environment in North Eastern tribes indicating that the growth status of the social environment is improving. Child health is an important topic in developing countries, and as such the book features an overview of the growth and nutritional status of children aged 5 to 18 in India. Characterization of Extended Uniform Distribution and its applications for quality control in industrial production, and in yield data of tuber crops among others are discussed. Characterizations of distribution in terms of performance rate are also proved. There is also a contribution examining the past and present status of mangroves in Sunderban region of the Indian state of West Bengal from an ecological viewpoint using a growth curve model set-up. Lastly, it includes a chapter on a statistical study of platelet size decomposition and related growth model. Highlighting the importance of growth curve modelling as it applies to actual field data and encouraging more theoretically inclined statisticians to look into theoretical issues that need investigation, the book disseminates applications of the growth curve model to real-world problems and addresses related theoretical issues for the attention of theoreticians and practitioners.

This book describes some recent trends in GCM research on different subject areas, both theoretical and applied. This includes tools and possibilities for further work through new techniques and modification of existing ones. A growth curve is an empirical model of the evolution of a quantity over time. Growth curves in longitudinal studies are used in disciplines including biology, statistics, population studies, economics, biological sciences, sociology, nano-biotechnology, and fluid mechanics. The volume includes original studies, theoretical findings and case studies from a wide range of applied work. This volume builds on presentations from a GCM workshop held at the Indian Statistical Institute, Giridih, January 18-19, 2014. This book follows the volume Advances in Growth Curve Models, published by Springer in 2013. The results have meaningful application in health care, prediction of crop yield, child nutrition, poverty measurements, estimation of growth rate, and other research areas.

After Karl Jöreskog's first presentation in 1970, Structural Equation Modelling or SEM has become a main statistical tool in many fields of science. It is the standard approach of factor analytic and causal modelling in such diverse fields as sociology, education, psychology, economics, management and medical sciences. In addition to an extension of its application area, Structural Equation Modelling also features a continual renewal and extension of its theoretical background. The sixteen contributions to this book, written by experts from many countries, present important new developments and interesting applications in Structural Equation Modelling. The book addresses methodologists and statisticians professionally dealing with Structural Equation Modelling to enhance their knowledge of the type of models covered and the technical problems involved in their formulation. In addition, the book offers applied researchers new ideas about the use of Structural Equation Modeling in solving their problems. Finally, methodologists, mathematicians and applied researchers alike are addressed, who simply want to update their knowledge of recent approaches in data analysis and mathematical modelling.

This practical introduction to second-order and growth mixture models using Mplus introduces simple and complex techniques through incremental steps. The authors extend latent growth curves to second-order growth curve and mixture models and then combine the two. To maximize understanding, each model is presented with basic structural equations, figures with associated syntax that highlight what the statistics mean, Mplus applications, and an interpretation of results. Examples from a variety of disciplines demonstrate the use of the models and exercises allow readers to test their understanding of the techniques. A comprehensive introduction to confirmatory factor analysis, latent growth curve modeling, and growth mixture modeling is provided so the book can be used by readers of various skill levels. The book’s datasets are available on the web. Highlights include: -Illustrative examples using Mplus 7.4 include conceptual figures, Mplus program syntax, and an interpretation of results to show readers how to carry out the analyses with actual data. -Exercises with an answer key allow readers to practice the skills they learn. -Applications to a variety of disciplines appeal to those in the behavioral, social, political, educational, occupational, business, and health sciences. -Data files for all the illustrative examples and exercises at www.routledge.com/9781138925151 allow readers to test their understanding of the concepts. -Point to Remember boxes aid in reader comprehension or provide in-depth discussions of key statistical or theoretical concepts. Part 1 introduces basic structural equation modeling (SEM) as well as first- and second-order growth curve modeling. The book opens with the basic concepts from SEM, possible extensions of conventional growth curve models, and the data and measures used throughout the book. The subsequent chapters in part 1 explain the extensions. Chapter 2 introduces conventional modeling of multidimensional panel data, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and growth curve modeling, and its limitations. The logical and theoretical extension of a CFA to a second-order growth curve, known as curve-of-factors model (CFM), are explained in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 illustrates the estimation and interpretation of unconditional and conditional CFMs. Chapter 5 presents the logical and theoretical extension of a parallel process model to a second-order growth curve, known as factor-of-curves model (FCM). Chapter 6 illustrates the estimation and interpretation of unconditional and conditional FCMs. Part 2 reviews growth mixture modeling including unconditional growth mixture modeling (Ch. 7) and conditional growth mixture models (Ch. 8). How to extend second-order growth curves (curve-of-factors and factor-of-curves models) to growth mixture models is highlighted in Chapter 9. Ideal as a supplement for use in graduate courses on (advanced) structural equation, multilevel, longitudinal, or latent variable modeling, latent growth curve and mixture modeling, factor analysis, multivariate statistics, or advanced quantitative techniques (methods) taught in psychology, human development and family studies, business, education, health, and social sciences, this book’s practical approach also appeals to researchers. Prerequisites include a basic knowledge of intermediate statistics and structural equation modeling.

Featuring contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field of SEM, most chapters are written by the author(s) who originally proposed the technique and/or contributed substantially to its development. Content highlights include latent variable mixture modeling, multilevel modeling, interaction modeling, models for dealing with nonstandard and noncompliance samples, the latest on the analysis of growth curve and longitudinal data, specification searches, item parceling, and equivalent models. This volume will appeal to educators, psychologists, biologists, business professionals, medical researchers, and other social and health scientists. It is assumed that the reader has mastered the equivalent of a graduate-level multivariate statistics course that included coverage of introductory SEM techniques.

Growth models are among the core methods for analyzing how and when people change. Discussing both structural equation and multilevel modeling approaches, this book leads readers step by step through applying each model to longitudinal data to answer particular research questions. It demonstrates cutting-edge ways to describe linear and nonlinear change patterns, examine within-person and between-person differences in change, study change in latent variables, identify leading and lagging indicators of change, evaluate co-occurring patterns of change across multiple variables, and more. User-friendly features include real data examples, code (for Mplus or NLMIXED in SAS, and OpenMx or nlme in R), discussion of the output, and interpretation of each model's results. User-Friendly Features *Real, worked-through longitudinal data examples serving as illustrations in each chapter. *Script boxes that provide code for fitting the models to example data and facilitate application to the reader's own data. *"Important Considerations" sections offering caveats, warnings, and recommendations for the use of specific models. *Companion website supplying datasets and syntax for the book's examples, along with additional code in SAS/R for linear mixed-effects modeling. Winner--Barbara Byrne Book Award from the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology

Latent growth curve modeling (LGM)—a special case of confirmatory factor analysis designed to model change over time—is an indispensable and increasingly ubiquitous approach for modeling longitudinal data. This volume introduces LGM techniques to researchers, provides easy-to-follow, didactic examples of several common growth modeling approaches, and highlights recent advancements regarding the treatment of missing data, parameter estimation, and model fit. The book covers the basic linear LGM, and builds from there to describe more complex functional forms (e.g., polynomial latent curves), multivariate latent growth curves used to model simultaneous change in multiple variables, the inclusion of time-varying covariates, predictors of aspects of change, cohort-sequential designs, and multiple-group models. The authors also highlight approaches to dealing with missing data, different estimation methods, and incorporate discussion of model evaluation and comparison within the context of LGM. The models demonstrate how they may be applied to longitudinal data derived from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD).. Key Features · Provides easy-to-follow, didactic examples of several common growth modeling approaches · Highlights recent advancements regarding the treatment of missing data, parameter estimation, and model fit · Explains the commonalities and differences between latent growth model and multilevel modeling of repeated measures data · Covers the basic linear latent growth model, and builds from there to describe more complex functional forms such as polynomial latent curves, multivariate latent growth curves, time-varying covariates, predictors of aspects of change, cohort-sequential designs, and multiple-group models Learn more about "The Little Green Book" - QASS Series! Click Here