Considering between- and within-person relations in auto-regressive cross-lagged panel models for developmental data.

Longitudinal data can provide inferences at both the between-person and within-person levels of analysis, but only to the extent that the statistical models chosen for data analysis are specified to adequately capture these distinct sources of association. The present work focuses on auto-regressive cross-lagged panel models, which have long been used to examine time-lagged reciprocal relations and mediation among multiple variables measured repeatedly over time. Unfortunately, many common implementations of these models fail to distinguish between-person associations among individual differences in the variables' amounts and changes over time, and thus confound between-person and within-person relations either partially or entirely, leading to inaccurate results. Furthermore, in the increasingly complex model variants that continue to be developed, what is not easily appreciated is how substantial differences in interpretation can be created by what appear to be trivial differences in model specification. In the present work, we aimed to (a) help analysts become better acquainted with the some of the more common model variants that fall under this larger umbrella, and (b) explicate what characteristics of one's data and research questions should be considered in selecting a model. Supplementary Materials include annotated model syntax and output using Mplus, lavaan in R, and sem in Stata to help translate these concepts into practice.

Longitudinal Grammaticality Judgments of Tense Marking in Complex Questions in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment, Ages 5-18 Years.

PURPOSE: Identification of children with specific language impairment (SLI) can be difficult even though their language can lag that of age peers throughout childhood. A clinical grammar marker featuring tense marking in simple clauses is valid and reliable for young children but is limited by ceiling effects around the age of 8 years. This study evaluated a new, more grammatically challenging complex sentence task in children affected or unaffected with SLI in longitudinal data, ages 5-18 years. METHOD: Four hundred eighty-three children (213 unaffected, 270 affected) between 5 and 18 years of age participated, following a rolling recruitment longitudinal design encompassing a total of 4,148 observations. The new experimental grammaticality judgment task followed linguistic concepts of syntactic sites for finiteness and movement within complex clauses. Growth modeling methods evaluated group differences over time for four different outcomes; three were hypothesized to evaluate optional omissions of overt finiteness forms in authorized sentence sites, and one evaluated an overt error of tense marking. RESULTS: As in earlier studies of younger children, growth models for the SLI group were consistently lower than the unaffected group, although the growth trajectories across groups did not differ. The results replicated across four item types defined by omissions with minor differences for an item with an overt error of tense marking. Covariates of child nonverbal IQ, mother's education, and child sex did not significantly moderate these effects. CONCLUSION: The outcomes support the task as having potential screening value for identification of children with SLI and are consistent with linguistic interpretations of task demands.

Confirmatory measurement modeling and longitudinal invariance of the CompACT-15: A short-form assessment of psychological flexibility.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT; Francis et al., 2016) is a recently developed measure of psychological flexibility (PF) possessing several advantages over other measures of PF, including multidimensional assessment and relative brevity. Unfortunately, previous psychometric evaluations of the CompACT have been limited by their use of exploratory factor analysis to assess dimensionality, coefficient α to assess reliability, and a lack of attention to measurement equivalence in assessing change over time. The present study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item factor analysis (IFA) to examine the dimensionality, factor-specific reliability, longitudinal measurement invariance, and construct validity of the CompACT items in a longitudinal online sample of U.S. adults (N = 523). Converging evidence across CFA and IFA confirmatory latent variable measurement models provides support for the reduction of the 23-item CompACT to a 15-item short form with a more stable factor structure, acceptable reliability over large ranges of its three latent factors, and measurement equivalence of its items in assessing latent change over time. Results also support the construct validity of the CompACT-15 items based on its relations with theoretically relevant measures. Overall, the CompACT-15 appears to be a psychometrically sound instrument with the potential to contribute to research and intervention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Modeling Psychometric Relational Data in Social Networks: Latent Interdependence Models.

In the current paper, we propose a latent interdependence approach to modeling psychometric data in social networks. The idea of latent interdependence is adopted from social relations models (SRMs), which formulate a mutual-rating process by both dyad members' characteristics. Under the framework of the latent interdependence approach, we introduce two psychometric models: The first model includes the main effects of both rating-sender and rating-receiver, and the second model includes a latent distance effect to assess the influence from the dissimilarity between the latent characteristics of both sides. The latent distance effect is quantified by the Euclidean distance between both sides' trait scores. Both models use Bayesian estimation via Markov chain Monte Carlo. How accurately model parameters were estimated was evaluated in a simulation study. Parameter recovery results showed that all parameters were accurately recovered under most of the conditions investigated. As expected, the accuracy of model estimation was significantly improved as network size grew. Also, through analyzing empirical data, we showed how to use the estimates of model parameters to predict the latent weight of connections among group members and rebuild either a univariate or multivariate network at a latent trait level. Finally, we discuss issues regarding model comparison and offer suggestions for future studies.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Role of Youth Emotion Regulation in Mentoring Relationships.

Youth mentoring programs have grown in popularity, both within the United States (U.S.) and abroad, as an intervention to support youth with common behavioral and emotional difficulties. However, it is unclear whether certain dimensions of youth risk may diminish the positive impact of formalized mentoring relationships. The current study therefore examined whether youth emotion regulation, a transdiagnostic risk factor for both externalizing and internalizing behavioral difficulties, predicted mentoring relationship quality and the likelihood of early match closure. Participants included 1,298 randomized mentor-youth dyads from two nationwide mentoring programs, one with chapters across the U.S. (youth: 56% female; 37% White), and another with chapters across Mexico (youth: 49% female; 100% non-Indigenous). At baseline, youth completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA). At program completion, youth and mentors completed measures of mentoring relationship quality. Multigroup structural equation models of youth outcomes revealed that greater youth use of cognitive reappraisal predicted better mentoring relationship quality in both countries when co-varying for sex, and that this relationship was stronger for mentor-youth pairs in the U.S. compared to those in Mexico. These findings have important implications for understanding the ways in which youth characteristics might shape the quality and impact of mentoring relationships across different cultural settings.

Catching Up on Multilevel Modeling.

This review focuses on the use of multilevel models in psychology and other social sciences. We target readers who are catching up on current best practices and sources of controversy in the specification of multilevel models. We first describe common use cases for clustered, longitudinal, and cross-classified designs, as well as their combinations. Using examples from both clustered and longitudinal designs, we then address issues of centering for observed predictor variables: its use in creating interpretable fixed and random effects of predictors, its relationship to endogeneity problems (correlations between predictors and model error terms), and its translation into multivariate multilevel models (using latent-centering within multilevel structural equation models). Finally, we describe novel extensions-mixed-effects location-scale models-designed for predicting differential amounts of variability.

Interactive Effects of Coping Strategies and Emotion Dysregulation on Risk for Peer Victimization.

The aim of the current longitudinal study was to examine the interactive effects of six common coping strategies (i.e., adult support seeking, friend support seeking, problem solving, humor, passive coping, and cognitive distancing) and emotion (i.e., anger and sadness) dysregulation on concurrent levels and subsequent trajectories of peer victimization over a 2-year period. Participants were 287 predominantly Caucasian students (53.7% boys; ages 6-9) from an elementary school located in the Midwestern United States. Self-reported coping strategies and emotion dysregulation were assessed at baseline; children also provided ratings of peer victimization annually over a 2-year period. Results indicated that the effectiveness of particular coping strategies may depend on children's overt, undercontrolled displays of anger and sadness. Consistent with recent recommendations, these findings suggest that some youth may require interventions that focus on both enhancing emotion regulation skills and teaching strategies for responding to peer victimization in a more adaptive manner.

Going the Distance: Technical Assistance to Community Prevention Coalitions and its impact on Prevention Coalitions Over Time.

Prevention Coordinators are the linking agents providing technical assistance between universities and communities in the PROSPER model to support the implementation and sustainability of youth and family programs that have reduced substance abuse in prior research. This study examines the outcomes and trajectory of the frequency of contact of technical assistance (i.e. dosage) with community collaborative prevention coalitions across the three stages of coalition development. After communities were randomized, members of PROSPER coalitions (n=12) provided information about the quality of their operations at five time points across four and one-half years; prevention coordinators reported on the frequency of contact with their community coalitions at 14 intervals across the same period of time. This study only utilizes the intervention communities. Results from correlational models show that levels of dosage relate to the quality of internal coalition processes over time, but that the direction of the relationship changes over time: high frequency of contact early on relates to lower coalition-rated functioning initially. In contrast, early frequency of contact relates to higher levels of coalition functioning at later time points. Furthermore, longitudinal mixed models show that levels of dosage were consistent over time. These results provide empirical support of the importance of a proactive technical assistance model and add further evidence that important distinctions exist among different coalition developmental phases.

Examining variability in the processing of agreement in novice learners: Evidence from event-related potentials.

The present study examines both properties of the language and properties of the learner to better understand variability at the earliest stages of second language (L2) acquisition. We used event-related potentials, an oral production task, and a battery of individual differences measures to examine the processing of number and gender agreement in two groups of low-proficiency English-speaking learners of Spanish who were tested in multiple sessions. The results showed an advantage for number, the feature also instantiated in the native language, as both groups showed a native-like P600 response to subject-verb and noun-adjective number violations across sessions. The more advanced group showed larger effects for number and marginal sensitivity to gender violations. These results suggest that native-like processing of shared features is possible even for novice learners, contrary to proposals suggesting that all morphosyntactic dependencies are initially processed in a non-native manner. Working memory (WM) was a predictor of P600 effects for number and also for gender (where the effect was marginal), suggesting that similar abilities may capture variability in the processing of both shared and unique features despite differences in overall sensitivity. Furthermore, whereas WM predicted performance on online tasks (P600 effects/oral production), verbal aptitude predicted performance on tasks examining morphosyntactic accuracy (grammaticality judgment task/oral production). Our results show that the linguistic properties of the L2, the individual characteristics of the learner, and the nature of the task at hand all play an important role in capturing the variability often observed in the L2 processing of agreement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Preverbal Communication Complexity in Infants.

The development of prelinguistic communication in typically developing infants is marked by changes in complexity as well as frequency, yet most measures focus on frequency. In the current study we used the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) to measure prelinguistic complexity of typically developing infants in a cross-sectional sample of 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-month-olds (N = 204) during semi-structured play interaction. For each toy/interactive episode, infants' highest level of communication complexity (ranging from 0 for no response to 12 for multi-word verbalization), for both joint attention (i.e., social) and behavior regulation (e.g., requesting) functions, was scored. In addition, the same interaction was coded for frequency of all prelinguistic communication acts. Results of multivariate models indicated age-related differences in prelinguistic complexity. Measures of prelinguistic complexity and frequency evidenced moderate to strong correlations, with age-related differences by function (joint attention and behavior regulation). Significant associations with parent-report communication questionnaires were observed for both complexity and frequency measures. Results indicate that evaluating complexity of infant preverbal communication skill with the CCS is a valuable approach that can meaningfully index developmental differences in prelinguistic and early linguistic communication.

Heritability of Specific Language Impairment and Nonspecific Language Impairment at Ages 4 and 6 Years Across Phenotypes of Speech, Language, and Nonverbal Cognition.

Purpose Early language and speech acquisition can be delayed in twin children, a twinning effect that diminishes between 4 and 6 years of age in a population-based sample. The purposes of this study were to examine how twinning effects influence the identification of children with language impairments at 4 and 6 years of age, comparing children with specific language impairment (SLI) and nonspecific language impairment (NLI); the likelihood that affectedness will be shared within monozygotic versus dizygotic twin pairs; and estimated levels of heritability for SLI and NLI. Twinning effects are predicted to result in elevated rates of language impairments in twins. Method The population-based twin sample included 1,354 children from 677 twin pairs, 214 monozygotic and 463 dizygotic, enrolled in a longitudinal study. Nine phenotypes from the same comprehensive direct behavioral assessment protocol were investigated at 4 and 6 years of age. Twinning effects were estimated for each phenotype at each age using structural equation models estimated via diagonally weighted least squares. Heritabilities were calculated for SLI and NLI. Results As predicted, the twinning effect increased the percentage of affected children in both groups across multiple language phenotypes, an effect that diminished with age yet was still not aligned to singleton age peers. Substantial heritability estimates replicated across language phenotypes and increased with age, even with the most lenient definition of affectedness, at -1 SD. Patterns of outcomes differed between SLI and NLI groups. Conclusions Nonverbal IQ is not on the same causal pathway as language impairments. Twinning effects on language acquisition affect classification of 4- and 6-year-old children as SLI and NLI, and heritability is most consistent in the SLI group. Clinical practice requires monitoring language acquisition of twins to avoid misdiagnosis when young or a missed diagnosis of language impairments at school entry.

Is Receiving Social Support Costly for Those Higher in Subjective Socioeconomic Status?

BACKGROUND: Although social support is generally thought to have positive consequences, this is not always the case. Receiving social support may threaten independence, which research has shown is more highly valued among those higher in socioeconomic status. As a result, support may be less strongly associated with positive outcomes for those higher in socioeconomic status (SES). Conversely, those lower in SES are more interdependent (Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton, Rheinschmidt, & Keltner, 2012; Stephens, Markus, & Phillips, 2014) and may, therefore, be less threatened when receiving social support. This study examined SES as a moderator of how daily received support (within and between persons) predicted both daily psychological stressor appraisals and diurnal cortisol. METHOD: Healthy undergraduate students (N = 128) participated in a 3-day study. Participants completed one or more evening diaries the first day of the study and additional questionnaires upon awakening, throughout the day, and at bedtime during the following 2 days. Support was measured each evening and stressor appraisals and cortisol were measured throughout the day. RESULTS: As expected, for those who reported higher subjective SES, receiving more support than usual (within-person support) was associated with a flatter pattern of diurnal cortisol the next day. Although SES did not moderate the association of either within- or between-person support with stressor appraisals, the receipt of more support on average (between-person support) was associated with higher reported resources to cope. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate that there may be physiological costs-but not psychological costs-associated with the receipt of support for those higher in socioeconomic status.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing HOPE Treatment and Present-Centered Therapy in Women Residing in Shelter with PTSD from Intimate Partner Violence.

The current study is a randomized controlled trial comparing HOPE (Helping to Overcome PTSD through Empowerment) to an adapted version of present-centered therapy (PCT+) in residents of domestic violence shelters with posttraumatic stress disorder from intimate partner violence. HOPE is a cognitive-behavioral treatment that adopts an empowerment approach. PCT is an attention-matched control condition frequently used in posttraumatic stress disorder treatment research. PCT+ was adapted to include safety planning. We collected data from 172 women from one of six shelters, randomizing participants to receive either HOPE or PCT+. Participants in both treatments received up to 16 sessions during shelter and the first three months post-shelter. Follow-up assessments occurred at post-shelter, post-treatment, and 6- and 12-months post-treatment. Results of multivariate models found that both HOPE and PCT+ were associated with significant and large reductions in intimate partner violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Further, both treatments resulted in significant small to medium effects on intimate partner violence, depression, empowerment, posttraumatic cognitions, and health-related quality of life. Results suggest that both HOPE and PCT+ are viable and efficacious treatments of intimate partner violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder in women residing in shelters. As PCT+ has the potential to be delivered by paraprofessionals and individuals without mental health expertise, PCT+ may be the preferred treatment model for shelters.

On the Interpretation of Parameters in Multivariate Multilevel Models Across Different Combinations of Model Specification and Estimation.

The increasing availability of software with which to estimate multivariate multilevel models (also called multilevel structural equation models) makes it easier than ever before to leverage these powerful techniques to answer research questions at multiple levels of analysis simultaneously. However, interpretation can be tricky given that different choices for centering model predictors can lead to different versions of what appear to be the same parameters; this is especially the case when the predictors are latent variables created through model-estimated variance components. A further complication is a recent change to Mplus (Version 8.1), a popular software program for estimating multivariate multilevel models, in which the selection of Bayesian estimation instead of maximum likelihood results in different lower-level predictors when random slopes are requested. This article provides a detailed explication of how the parameters of multilevel models differ as a function of the analyst's decisions regarding centering and the form of lower-level predictors (i.e., observed or latent), the method of estimation, and the variant of program syntax used. After explaining how different methods of centering lower-level observed predictor variables result in different higher-level effects within univariate multilevel models, this article uses simulated data to demonstrate how these same concepts apply in specifying multivariate multilevel models with latent lower-level predictor variables. Complete data, input, and output files for all of the example models have been made available online to further aid readers in accurately translating these central tenets of multivariate multilevel modeling into practice.

Application of the Communication Complexity Scale in Peer and Adult Assessment Contexts for Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to measure changes in communication of preschoolers with autism using the Communication Complexity Scale (CCS; Brady et al., 2012 ) and to examine the utility of the CCS in measuring pretreatment and posttreatment changes within peer and adult assessment contexts. Method The CCS was used to code preassessment and postassessment for 23 children with autism randomly assigned to a treatment that incorporated a peer-mediated approach and a speech-generating device and 22 assigned to a business-as-usual condition with untrained peers. Children were assessed in 2 structured 30-min contexts-1 with an adult examiner and 1 with a peer partner coached by an adult. Results Children in both groups showed significant changes in communication complexity CCS scores from pretreatment to posttreatment in the adult and peer contexts. At both occasions, CCS scores were higher with adult partners yet showed greater improvements over time with peer partners. Conclusions Results showed that the CCS was sensitive to change over time but did not discriminate changes in communication complexity associated with maturation versus treatment. It did show some differences based on interactions with peer versus adult partners. Outcomes provide preliminary support for using this scale to measure communication changes in different contexts. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7408856.

A longitudinal study of infants' early speech production and later letter identification.

Letter identification is an early metric of reading ability that can be reliability tested before a child can decode words. We test the hypothesis that early speech production will be associated with children's later letter identification. We examined longitudinal growth in early speech production in 9 typically developing children across eight occasions, every 3 months from 9 months to 30 months. At each occasion, participants and their caregivers engaged in a speech sample in a research lab. This speech sample was transcribed for a variety of vocalizations, which were then transformed to calculate consonant-vowel ratio. Consonant-vowel ratio is a measure of phonetic complexity in speech production. At the age of 72 months, children's letter knowledge was measured. A multilevel model including fixed quadratic age change and a random intercept was estimated using letter identification as a predictor of the growth in early speech production from 9-30 months, measured by the outcome of consonant-vowel ratio. Results revealed that the relation between early speech production and letter identification differed over time. For each additional letter that a child identified, their consonant-vowel ratio at the age of 9 months increased. As such, these results confirmed our hypothesis: more robust early speech production is associated with more accurate letter identification.

Incorporating a Peer-Mediated Approach Into Speech-Generating Device Intervention: Effects on Communication of Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose: This study examined the effects of incorporating a peer-mediated approach into a speech-generating device (SGD) intervention on communication of 45 nonverbal and minimally verbal preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 95 peers without disabilities. The SGD was an iPad 2 (Apple) with voice output app. Method: Effects were evaluated using a multivariate randomized control trial design with repeated measures for 4 cohorts across baseline, intervention, generalization, and maintenance phases. Children were randomly assigned to an experimental treatment that trained peers on use of the SGD or a business-as-usual comparison condition with untrained peers. Communication outcomes were measured for both children with ASD and peers. Results: Children receiving the treatment demonstrated significant increases in rates of communication and more balanced responses and initiations (a measure of reciprocity) than children in the comparison group. They were able to generalize improvements and maintain communication gains. Treatment fidelity was high for school staff and peer implementation. Conclusions: Results support positive effects on communication of teaching young children with ASD and peers without disabilities to use the same SGD system in typical preschool activities. SGD interventions that utilize peer-mediated approaches may improve core deficits in communication and reciprocity and allow for greater classroom social participation and interactions with peers.

The Power to Detect and Predict Individual Differences in Intra-Individual Variability Using the Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Model.

Our goal is to provide empirical scientists with practical tools and advice with which to test hypotheses related to individual differences in intra-individual variability using the mixed-effects location-scale model. To that end, we evaluate Type I error rates and power to detect and predict individual differences in intra-individual variability using this model and provide empirically-based guidelines for building scale models that include random and/or systematically-varying fixed effects. We also provide two power simulation programs that allow researchers to conduct a priori empirical power analyses. Our results aligned with statistical power theory, in that, greater power was observed for designs with more individuals, more repeated occasions, greater proportions of variance available to be explained, and larger effect sizes. In addition, our results indicated that Type I error rates were acceptable in situations when individual differences in intra-individual variability were not initially detectable as well as when the scale-model individual-level predictor explained all initially detectable individual differences in intra-individual variability. We conclude our paper by providing study design and model building advice for those interested in using the mixed-effects location-scale model in practice.

Longitudinal Study of Language and Speech of Twins at 4 and 6 Years: Twinning Effects Decrease, Zygosity Effects Disappear, and Heritability Increases.

Purpose: This study investigates the heritability of language, speech, and nonverbal cognitive development of twins at 4 and 6 years of age. Possible confounding effects of twinning and zygosity, evident at 2 years, were investigated among other possible predictors of outcomes. Method: The population-based twin sample included 627 twin pairs and 1 twin without a co-twin (197 monozygotic and 431 dizygotic), 610 boys and 645 girls, 1,255 children in total. Nine phenotypes from the same comprehensive direct behavioral assessment protocol were investigated at 4 and 6 years of age. Twinning effects were estimated for each phenotype at each age using general linear mixed models using maximum likelihood. Results: Twinning effects decreased from 4 to 6 years; zygosity effects disappeared by 6 years. Heritability increased from 4 to 6 years across all 9 phenotypes, and the heritability estimates were higher than reported previously, in the range of .44-.92 at 6 years. The highest estimate, .92, was for the clinical grammar marker. Conclusions: Across multiple dimensions of speech, language, and nonverbal cognition, heritability estimates are robust. A finiteness marker of grammar shows the highest inherited influences in this early period of children's language acquisition.

Examining the Highs and Lows of the Collaborative Relationship Between Technical Assistance Providers and Prevention Implementers.

The PROSPER model uses a three-tiered community partnership, university researcher, and Cooperative Extension-based technical assistance system to support the delivery of evidence-based interventions in communities. This study examines the trajectory and predictors of the collaborative relationship between technical assistance providers and community teams across the three phases of organization, implementation, and sustainability. Members of 14 PROmoting School-university-community Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) community teams and directors of local agencies rated communities' levels of readiness and adolescent substance use norms. Technical assistance providers rated their collaborative relationship with their teams at 14 occasions across 4.5 years. Results from mixed models show that levels of collaboration were stable until the sustainability phase, when they increased significantly. Team differences in change were significant during the implementation phase. Community readiness predicted levels of the collaborative relationship over time: high community readiness was associated with a high level of collaboration during organization, but a decline in collaboration during implementation. These results provide a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between technical assistance provision and community prevention teams and lead to recommendations to improve dissemination models to achieve a greater public health impact.