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There are a number of significant challenges researchers encounter when studying development over an extended period of time, including subject attrition, the changing of measurement structures across groups and developmental periods, and the need to invest substantial time and money. Integrative data analysis is an emerging set of methodologies that allows researchers to overcome many of the challenges of single-sample designs through the pooling of data drawn from multiple existing developmental studies. This approach is characterized by a host of advantages, but this also introduces several new complexities that must be addressed prior to broad adoption by developmental researchers. In this article, the authors focus on methods for fitting measurement models and creating scale scores using data drawn from multiple longitudinal studies. The authors present findings from the analysis of repeated measures of internalizing symptomatology that were pooled from three existing developmental studies. The authors describe and demonstrate each step in the analysis and conclude with a discussion of potential limitations and directions for future research. Keywords: integrative data analysis, pooling data, growth modeling, item response theory

Study of effects of trade on human development, longevity, literacy and income asper human development index is presented, based on generalized method of moments.

Abstract Human development index (HDI) was introduced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1990. For the first four years UNDP used the maximum and the minimum values of [...]

In this paper, we investigate the choice of principal variables for computing three human development indicators, namely, the Human Development Index (HDI), the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI), and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). To this end, data from the 1999 Human Development Report are used. Empirical results provide justification for selecting only one component of each indicator. The paper also suggests an alternative weighting scheme should all the three components of each indicator be retained. The implications of these results for development policy are discussed.

This article examines cross-sectional measurements of height and weight collected from Taiwan's Ministry of Education since 1964 to test the hypothesis that in Taiwan the degree of change used in tracking changes in the height and weight of rural and urban boys and girls was a function of sex and age-related capacities to respond to environmental factors. Evidence is found to support this hypotheses, it also finds that children's growth was negatively affected by economic problems during an oil crisis, suggesting that secular changes in growth reflect the quality of the environment.

This article assess the affects of forced relocation on human biology and growth by examining research collected from the Tonga people in the late 1950s when the Kariba hydro-electric dam was built on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia and 57,000 people, including Tongas, were forced to relocate. Long-term follow-up data is used to compared Gwembe Tonga growth among those relocated and those who were not, revealing some protein malnutrition immediately after resettlement.

The 'premature growth grid' devised in 1948 may no longer be an effective method for evaluating growth in premature infants with a very low birth weight (VLBW). Advances in medical technology have improved the growth of premature infants with a VLBW. A study examined the growth of 205 premature infants with a birth weight of 1,500 grams or less who were an appropriate size for their gestational age. The infants were born between Jan 1987 and May 1991. A growth curve was made over the first 3 1/2 months of life for infants in four birth weight categories. The growth curves for these infants were different from the 'premature growth grid'. The infants regained their birth weight faster and gained more weight each day., Objective. To generate contemporary postnatal growth curves for hospitalized very low birth weight infants. Design. Retrospective survey. Setting. Tertiary intensive care nursery. Patients. All surviving singleton, appropriate-for-gestational age infants with birth weight [is less than or equal to] 1500 g, born January 1, 1987, to May 31, 1991, who did not develop necrotizing enterocolitis (N = 205). Measurements and results. Macronutrient intakes and body weights were recorded daily, with crown-heel length and occipital-frontal head circumference recorded weekly up to 105 days of age or hospital discharge, whichever occurred first. Growth curves were generated for four birth weight ranges: 501 through 750, 751 through 1000, 1001 through 1250, and 1251 through 1500 g. Compared to previously published growth curves, the current infants regained birth weight more quickly and exhibited larger average daily weight gains. These differences were most apparent in infants of lowest birth weight. Conclusions. The premature growth grid" constructed by Dancis et al more than 40 years ago may no longer be a useful standard of early postnatal growth for present-day very low birth weight, appropriate-for-gestational-age infants. The new weight curves are a more accurate reflection of current in-hospital growth trends, especially for infants weighing [is less than or equal to] 1000 g at birth. Pediatrics 1993;91:922-926; growth, weight gain, newborn, low birth weight.

Height, weight, and growth velocity measurements may be useful in the initial assessment of slow-growing children, but they cannot accurately diagnose growth hormone deficiency. Researchers have demonstrated that such auxological measures cannot differentiate normal short children from those with a growth disorder, as their growth characteristics may be similar. Auxological measurements may identify children who require a more thorough diagnostic testing, and exclude short children unlikely to benefit from treatment with growth hormones., The use of auxologic measurements in the diagnosis of short stature in children has a long history in pediatric endocrinology, and they have even been used as the primary criteria in selecting children for growth hormone (GH) therapy. Certainly, an abnormality in the control of growth is more likely in short children than in children of normal stature. However, most studies have shown little or no value of auxologic criteria in differentiating short children who have classic growth hormone deficiency (GHD) from short children who do not. In National Cooperative Growth Study Substudy VI, in more than 6000 children being assessed for short stature, the overall mean height SD score was -2.5 [+ or -] 1.1 and the body mass index standard deviation score was -0.5 [+ or -] 1.4. However, there were no significant differences in these measures between the patients who were found subsequently to have GHD and those who were not. There also was no consistent difference in the growth rates between the patients with classic GHD and those short children without a diagnosis of GHD. This probably reflects the fact that we are dealing with a selected population of children who were referred for short stature and are further selecting those who are the shortest for additional investigation. Growth factor measurements have been somewhat more useful in selecting patients with GHD and have been proposed as primary diagnostic criteria. However, in National Cooperative Growth Study Substudy VI, only small differences in the levels of insulin-like growth factor I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 were seen between the patients who were selected for GH treatment and those who were not. Many studies indicate that the primary value of growth factor measurements is to exclude patients who are unlikely to have GHD or to identify those patients in whom an expedited work-up should be performed. The diagnosis of GHD remains difficult and must be based on all of the data possible and the best judgment of an experienced clinician. Even under ideal circumstances, errors of both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of GHD still are likely. Pediatrics 1998;102:524-526; auxology, growth hormone, growth hormone deficiency, insulin-like growth factor., ABBREVIATIONS. GHD, growth hormone deficiency; GH, growth hormone; NCGS, National Cooperative Growth Study; SDS, standard deviation score(s); IGF, insulin-like growth factor; IGFBP, insulin-like growth factor binding protein. In many cases, [...]

A study is conducted to measure and compare success, improvement and quality of life in European Union and Turkey, using achievement index, improvement index and social indicators as measurement tools.