Testing the Degree of Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Dependence Between Two Discrete Dynamic Processes

Developmental research often involves studying change across 2 or more processes or constructs simultaneously. A natural question in this work is whether change in these 2 processes is related or independent. Associative latent transition analysis (ALTA) was designed to test hypotheses about the deg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 2008-03, Vol.44 (2), p.468-480
Main Author: Flaherty, Brian P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Alcoholic Intoxication - epidemiology
Alcoholic Intoxication - psychology
Change
Changes
Comparative analysis
Correlation
Cross-sectional analysis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
Developmental Psychology
Evaluation Methods
Female
Health Surveys
Human
Humans
Hypothesis Testing
Indicators
Latent Class Analysis
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Marijuana Abuse - epidemiology
Marijuana Abuse - psychology
Models, Statistical
Psychological Patterns
Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data
Statistical Analysis
Substance Abuse
Substance use
Transitions
United States
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Developmental research often involves studying change across 2 or more processes or constructs simultaneously. A natural question in this work is whether change in these 2 processes is related or independent. Associative latent transition analysis (ALTA) was designed to test hypotheses about the degree to which change in 2 discrete latent variables is related. The ALTA model is a type of latent class model, which is a categorical latent variable model based on categorical indicators. In the ALTA approach, level and change on 1 variable is predicted by level and change in another. Two types of hypotheses are discussed: (a) broad hypotheses of dependence between the 2 discrete latent variables and (b) targeted hypotheses comparing specific patterns of change between levels of the discrete variables. Both types of hypotheses are tested via nested model comparisons. Analyses of relations between psychological state and substance use illustrate the model. Recent psychological state and recent substance use were found to be associated cross-sectionally and longitudinally, implying that change in recent substance use was related to change in recent psychological state.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.468