Longitudinal data analysis using structural equation models.

When determining the most appropriate method for analyzing longitudinal data, you must first consider what research question you want to answer. In this book, McArdle and Nesselroade identify five basic purposes of longitudinal structural equation modeling. For each purpose, they present the most useful strategies and models. Two important but underused approaches are emphasized: multiple factorial invariance over time and latent change scores. The book covers a wealth of models in a straightforward, understandable manner. Rather than overwhelm the reader with an extensive amount of algebra, the authors use path diagrams and emphasize methods that are appropriate for many uses. 2014 "We have led a workshop on longitudinal data analysis for the past decade, and participants at this workshop have asked many questions. Our first motive in writing this book is to answer these questions in an organized and complete way. Second, the important advances in longitudinal methodology are too often overlooked in favor of simpler but inferior alternatives. That is, certainly researchers have their own ideas about the importance of longitudinal structural equation modeling (LSEM), including concepts of multiple factorial invariance over time (MFIT), but we think these are essential ingredients of useful longitudinal analyses. Also, the use of what we term latent change scores, which we emphasize here, is not the common approach currently being used by many other researchers in the field. Thus, a second motive is to distribute knowledge about MFIT and the latent change score approach. Most of the instruction in this book pertains to using computer programs effectively. A third reason for writing this book is that we are enthusiastic about the possibilities for good uses of the longitudinal methods described here, some described for the first time and most never used in situations where we think they could be most useful. In essence, we write to offer some hope to the next generation of researchers in this area. Our general approach to scientific discourse is not one of castigation and critique of previous work; rather than attack the useful attempts of others, we have decided to applaud all the prior efforts and simply lay out our basic theory of longitudinal data analysis. We hope our efforts will spawn improved longitudinal research"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)