Time to Criterion: A Useful Reparameterization of the Latent Growth Model

• In Event: Growth Curve Modeling Extensions and Factor Analysis Choices

Abstract

Longitudinal models provide researchers with a framework for investigating key aspects of change over time, but rarely is time itself modeled as a focal parameter of interest. Rather than treat time as purely an index of measurement occasions, the proposed Time to Criterion (T2C) growth model allows for modeling individual variability in, as well as predictors and distal outcomes of, the time to achieve a given outcome. The T2C model is a reparameterization of a linear latent growth model, drawing from the work on growth model reparameterizations by Preacher and Hancock (2012; 2015). The derivation, assumptions, and interpretation of the proposed model are outlined below. A real data demonstration follows.

Authors

• Gregory R. Hancock, University of Maryland

• Tessa Johnson, University of Maryland - College Park