Merrill-Palmer Quarterly articles from July 2006

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly archives from July 2006

Person-centered and variable-centered approaches to longitudinal data.
July 1, 2006... As the number and scope of longitudinal investigations have expanded, so too have strategies for analyzing prospective data. Different analytic techniques are designed to answer different types of research questions. Person-centered approaches...

Person-oriented and variable-oriented research: concepts, results, and development.
July 1, 2006... Variable-oriented empirical research is based on the proposition that populations are homogeneous. Person-oriented research is based on the propositions that (1) distinct subgroups may exist and (2), if they exist, aggregate-level parameters...

Variable--and person-centered approaches to the analysis of early adolescent substance use: linking peer, family, and intervention effects with developmental trajectories.
July 1, 2006... This 4-year study of 698 young adolescents examined the covariates of early onset substance use from Grade 6 through Grade 9. The youth were randomly assigned to a family-centered Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) condition....

Mother and caregiver sensitivity over time: predicting language and academic outcomes with variable--and person-centered approaches.
July 1, 2006... Sensitive and responsive caregiving is associated with better cognitive and language outcomes. Using the longitudinal data set from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth...

Predictive validity of personality types versus personality dimensions from early childhood to adulthood: implications for the distinction between core and surface traits.
July 1, 2006... This study compared the long-term predictive validity of person-centered personality types and variable-centered personality dimensions assessed between ages 4-6 years in a population sample of 154 children. Results indicated that the...

Trajectories of reading development: a follow-up from birth to school age of children with and without risk for dyslexia.
July 1, 2006... In order to understand why some children are vulnerable to difficulties in their language development and their acquisition of reading skill, the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia followed 200 Finnish children from birth to school age....

Emotional availability in mother-child dyads: short-term stability and continuity from variable-centered and person-centered perspectives.
July 1, 2006... Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Can basic psychometric properties of EA be looked at from both variable (scale) and person (cluster) points of view in individuals and in...

Predicting interpersonal competence and self-worth from adolescent relationships and relationship networks: variable-centered and person-centered perspectives.
July 1, 2006... A two-year longitudinal investigation examined adolescents' (N = 100 girls and 99 boys) perceptions of social support in relationships with mothers, close friends, and romantic partners from Grade 10 (ages 14-16) to Grade 12 (ages 16-18)....

The person-oriented versus the variable-oriented approach: are they complementary, opposites, or exploring different worlds?
July 1, 2006... The present commentary gives a brief overview of the person-oriented and variable-oriented approaches, how they are commonly used in longitudinal research, and what one should take into consideration before using either approach. In addition to...

The uses of longitudinal data and person-centered analyses in the study of cognitive and language development.
July 1, 2006... Researchers in the fields of cognitive and language development have made less use of large-scale longitudinal designs and of person-centered approaches to data analysis than have researchers in the fields of social and personality development....