Statistical Mediation in Lifespan Developmental Analyses

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Gonzalez ◽  
David P. MacKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Theory Of Change ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Developmental Research ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Developmental Processes ◽  
Statistical Mediation ◽  
Future Outcomes ◽  
Interindividual Change

Lifespan developmental research studies how individuals change throughout their lifetime and how intraindividual or interindividual change leads to future outcomes. Lifespan researchers are interested in how developmental processes unfold and how specific developmental pathways lead to an outcome. Developmental processes have been previously studied using developmental cascade models, concepts of equifinality and multifinality, and developmental interventions. Statistical mediation analysis also provides a framework for studying developmental processes and developmental pathways by identifying intermediate variables, known as mediators, that transmit the effect between early exposures and future outcomes. The role of statistical mediation in lifespan developmental research is either to explain how the developmental process unfolds, or to identify mediators that researchers can target in interventions so that individuals change developmental pathways. The statistical mediation model is inherently causal, so the relations between the exposures, mediators, and outcomes have to be correctly specified, and ruling out alternative explanations for the relations is of upmost importance. The statistical mediation model can be extended to deal with longitudinal data. For example, the autoregressive mediation model can represent change through time by examining lagged relations in multiwave datasets. On the other hand, the multilevel mediation model can deal with the clustering of repeated measures within individuals to study intraindividual and interindividual change. Finally, the latent growth curve mediation model can represent the variability of linear and nonlinear trajectories for individuals in the variables in the mediation model through time. As a result, developmental researchers have access to a range of models that could describe the theory of change they want to study. Researchers are encouraged to consider mechanisms of change and to formulate mediation hypotheses about lifespan development.

scholarly journals Estimating age-based developmental trajectories using latent change score models based on measurement occasion

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Estrada
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Monte Carlo Study ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Change Score ◽  
Model Fit ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Measurement Occasion ◽  
Latent Change Score

Estrada, Hamagami, & Ferrer, (2019). Estimating Age-Based Developmental Trajectories Using Latent Change Score Models Based on Measurement Occasion. Multivariate Behavioral Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2019.1647822. Accelerated longitudinal designs (ALDs) are designs in which participants from different cohorts provide repeated measures covering a fraction of the time range of the study. ALDs allow researchers to study developmental processes spanning long periods within a relatively shorter time framework. The common trajectory is studied by aggregating the information provided by the different cohorts. Latent change score models (LCS) provide a powerful analytical framework to analyze data from ALDs. With developmental data, LCS models can be specified using measurement occasion as the time metric. This provides a number of benefits, but has an important limitation: It makes it not possible to characterize the longitudinal changes as a function of a developmental process such as age or biological maturation. To overcome this limitation, we propose an extension of an occasion-based LCS model that includes age differences at the first measurement occasion. We conducted a Monte Carlo study and compared the results of including different transformations of the age variable. Our results indicate that some of the proposed transformations resulted in accurate expectations for the studied process across all the ages in the study, and excellent model fit. We discuss these results and provide the R code for our analysis.

Structure and developmental process of a Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata forest in the Fagetea crenatae region in Japan

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1877-1885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazumi Fujita ◽  
Junji Sano
Keyword(s):  
Stand Structure ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Tree Establishment ◽  
Seedling Regeneration ◽  
Developmental Processes ◽  
Quercus Mongolica ◽  
Large Fluctuations ◽  
Alnus Hirsuta ◽  
Growth Change ◽  
Quercus Forest

Structure and developmental processes were studied in a Quercus mongolica Fisch. var. grosseserrata (Bl.) Rehd. et Wils. forest in the Fagetea crenatae Bl. region in Japan. The Quercus forest was classified into three stand types: stands dominated by Quercus with many species (type Q-MIX), Quercus-Fagus (type Q-F), and Quercus (type Q). In Q-MIX, Alnus hirsuta Turcz. had a bell-shaped DBH-class distribution. Most Quercus trees were single stemmed. The establishment of Quercus trees occurred continuously from the 1900s. The percentage of growth change (%GC) exhibited negative values from the 1940s. In Q-F and Q, Quercus trees had bell-shaped DBH-class distributions, and multiple-stemmed trees showed broad distributions. In Q-F, tree establishment peak was in the 1870s. %GC exhibited large fluctuations. In Q, tree establishment peak was in the 1850s. %GC exhibited negative values for 60 years. In conclusion, type Q-MIX, Q-F, and Q developed mainly by seedling regeneration following major cutting in the 1900s, sprout and seedling regeneration following intermittent cuttings mainly in the 1870s, and sprout and seedling regeneration following successive cuttings mainly in the 1850s, respectively. Cutting disturbance can be a major factor in developmental processes in Quercus forest; the frequency and intensity of cuttings affect the stand structure and the dominance of Quercus in the Fagetea crenatae region.

Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Developmental origins of disinhibition, boldness, and meanness

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Patrick ◽  
Don C. Fowles ◽  
Robert F. Krueger
Keyword(s):  
Social Dominance ◽  
Impulse Control ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Psychopathic Personality ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Developmental Processes ◽  
Emotional Resiliency ◽  
Clinical Concept ◽  
Triarchic Model

AbstractThe clinical concept of psychopathy (“psychopathic personality”) is generally considered to entail persistent behavioral deviancy in the company of emotional–interpersonal detachment. However, longstanding debates continue regarding the appropriate scope and boundaries of the concept. Here, we review alternative historic descriptions of the disorder together with empirical findings for the best-established assessment instruments in use with adolescents and youth as a basis for formulating an integrative, triarchic model of psychopathy. The essence of the triarchic model is that psychopathy encompasses three distinct phenotypic constructs: disinhibition, which reflects a general propensity toward problems of impulse control; boldness, which is defined as the nexus of social dominance, emotional resiliency, and venturesomeness; and meanness, which is defined as aggressive resource seeking without regard for others (“dysaffliated agency”). These differing phenotypic components are considered in terms of relevant etiologic and developmental pathways. The triarchic conceptualization provides a basis for reconciling and accommodating alternative descriptive accounts of psychopathy, and a framework for coordinating research on neurobiological and developmental processes contributing to varying manifestations of the disorder.

scholarly journals The Indirect Effect is Omitted Variable Bias: A Cautionary Note on the Interpretability of Significant Results in Non-Experimental Mediation Analyses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennert Coenen
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Cautionary Note ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Statistical Mediation ◽  
Omitted Variable Bias ◽  
Variable Bias

This paper intends to remind communication scientists that the indirect effect as estimated in mediation analyses is a statistical synonym for omitted variable bias (i.e., confounding or suppression). This simple fact questions the interpretability of statistically significant ‘indirect effects’ in observational designs: in social reality all variables correlate with each other to some extent - the so-called ‘crud factor’ - which means that omitted variable bias and ‘indirect effects’ at the population level are virtually guaranteed regardless of the actual variables involved in the statistical mediation model. As a result, there can be no inferential link between the observation of a significant indirect effect and a theoretical claim of mediation. Through this argument the paper hopes to cultivate a more critical attitude toward the interpretation of ‘indirect effects’ in observational communication science.

Editorial: Operationalizing child maltreatment: Developmental processes and outcomes

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANTE CICCHETTI ◽  
JODY TODD MANLY
Keyword(s):  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Psychological Maltreatment ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Battered Child Syndrome ◽  
Developmental Processes ◽  
Battered Child ◽  
Child Syndrome ◽  
Definition Of

Significant advances have occurred in our knowledge of the effects of maltreatment on the developmental process since the “battered child syndrome” (Kempe, Silverman, Steele, Droegemueller, & Silver, 1962) was first identified. In fact, during the mid-1980s and onward, the quality and methodological sophistication of investigations of the developmental sequelae of child maltreatment increased dramatically (for summaries, see Cicchetti & Lynch, 1995, and Cicchetti & Toth, 2000). However, overall progress has been hampered by a lack of consensus on the operationalization of the construct of child maltreatment (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993; Besharov, 1981; Cicchetti & Rizley, 1981; Giovannoni & Becerra, 1979). In recognition of the complexities accompanying definitional issues in the area of maltreatment, a decade ago a Special Issue of Development and Psychopathology was devoted to defining psychological maltreatment (Cicchetti, 1991). The challenges associated with defining maltreatment were again highlighted in a Special Issue of Development and Psychopathology that addressed advances and challenges in the study of the sequelae of child maltreatment (Cicchetti, 1994a). In the editorial to that issue, Cicchetti (1994b) concluded that “the lack of consensus regarding the definition of maltreatment employed by various investigators [had] made comparability across studies difficult to achieve” (p. 2).

scholarly journals Secondary Somatic Embryogenesis in Centaurium erythraea Rafn

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Milica D. Bogdanović ◽  
Katarina B. Ćuković ◽  
Angelina R. Subotić ◽  
Milan B. Dragićević ◽  
Ana D. Simonović ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Embryogenesis ◽  
Histological Analysis ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid ◽  
Embryogenic Cells ◽  
Endangered Medicinal Plant ◽  
2,4 Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid ◽  
Centaurium Erythraea

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a developmental process during which plant somatic cells, under suitable conditions, produce embryogenic cells that develop into somatic embryos (se). SE is the most important method for plant propagation in vitro, having both fundamental and applicative significance. SE can be induced from different tissues and organs, but when se are used as explants, the process is recognized as secondary or cyclic SE. We induced secondary SE in Centaurium erythraea by application of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea (CPPU). A medium containing 0.1 mgL−1 2,4-D and 0.25 mgL−1 CPPU was optimal in terms of the number of primary SE explants forming se, the number of well-developed se per explant, and morphological appearance of the obtained se. These concentrations allowed SE to progress through three cycles, whereas at higher concentrations of 0.2 mgL−1 2,4-D and 0.5 mgL−1 CPPU, only two cycles were achieved. Histological analysis revealed that secondary se are formed both directly and indirectly. Secondary SE readily germinated and converted into plantlets. Induction of cyclic SE contributes to the conservation efforts of this endangered medicinal plant and expands the spectrum of in vitro developmental pathways described in centaury—an emerging model in developmental biology.

scholarly journals A Serial Mediation Model of the Relationship between Cybervictimization and Cyberaggression: The Role of Stress and Unforgiveness Motivations

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7966
Author(s):  
Cirenia Quintana-Orts ◽  
Lourdes Rey ◽  
María Teresa Chamizo-Nieto ◽  
Everett L. Worthington
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Process ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Bully Victims ◽  
Original Insight ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Significant Mediator ◽  
Insight Into

Cyberaggression is often triggered by cybervictimization. However, little attention has been given to the underlying mechanisms in this relationship. Specifically, this study examined the mediating roles of stress as well as unforgiveness (i.e., revenge and avoidance motivations) in the cybervictimization-cyberbullying aggression link. The main goal is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of cybervictimization on cyberbullying aggression while modeling a process in which cybervictimization causes stress, which in turn causes unforgiveness motivations concluding with cyberbullying aggression as the consequent. A total of 979 adolescents (Mage = 13.72, SD = 1.31) completed the relevant scales at two time points spaced four months apart. The results confirm that stress and revenge motivation at Time 1 act as serial mediators between cybervictimization at Time 1 and cyberbullying behaviors at Time 2. Additionally, the results reveal that avoidance at Time 1 was not a significant mediator in the links between cybervictimization at Time 1 and cyberbullying aggression at Time 2. Our findings provide support for the stress-and-coping model of forgiveness in adolescence and offer original insight into the developmental process of bully-victims in cyberbullying context. These results suggest the importance of efforts addressing motivations and emotion-focused coping strategies in adolescents who have been bullied to prevent and reduce those adolescents’ future stress and aggressive behaviors. The contributions and implications of the results are discussed.

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