Creating a developmental scale to account for heterotypic continuity in development: A simulation study

Abstract

Many psychological constructs show heterotypic continuity—their behavioral manifestations change with development (e.g., externalizing problems). However, research has paid little attention to how to account for heterotypic continuity. A promising approach to account for heterotypic continuity is creating a developmental scale using vertical scaling. We conducted a simulation to compare creating a developmental scale using vertical scaling to traditional approaches of assessing a construct over time. Traditional approaches that failed to account for heterotypic continuity resulted in less accurate growth estimates, at the person- and group-level. Findings suggest that ignoring heterotypic continuity may result in faulty developmental inferences. Creating a developmental scale with vertical scaling is recommended to link different measures across time and account for heterotypic continuity.