Faculty Articles

Applications of Individual Growth Curve Modeling for Pediatric Psychology Research

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Pediatric Psychology

ISSN

0146-8693

Publication Date

2006

Abstract

Objective: To provide a brief, nontechnical introduction to individual growth curve modeling for the analysis of longitudinal data. Several applications of individual growth curve modeling for pediatric psychology research are discussed.

Methods: To illustrate these applications, we analyze data from an ongoing pediatric psychology study of the possible impact of spina bifida on child and family development (N = 135). Three repeated observations, spaced by approximately 2 years, contributed to the analyses (M age at baseline = 8.84).

Results: Results indicated that individual linear growth curves of emotional autonomy varied as a function of the youth gender by spina bifida group membership interaction.

Conclusions: Strengths of individual growth curve modeling relative to more traditional methods of analysis are highlighted (e.g., completely flexible specification of the time variable, explicit modeling of both aggregate-level and individual-level growth curves).

DOI

10.1093/jpepsy/jsj074

Volume

31

Issue

10

First Page

1002

Last Page

1023

Peer Reviewed

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