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

Many psychological constructs show heterotypic continuity—their behavioral manifestations change with development (e.

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.

Citation

Peterson, Isaac T., LeBeau, Brandon, Choe, Daniel (2020). Creating a developmental scale to account for heterotypic continuity in development: A simulation study. Child Development.

Links

Link to Journal

Publication: Child Development Authors: Isaac T. Peterson, Brandon LeBeau, Daniel Choe Date: June 01, 2020 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13433