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Two community-based cohorts of children with autism spectrum disorder, examined using similar assessment protocols, were pooled (n = 301) and subdivided according to history of regression. Those with regression (n = 62), 20.5% of the combined cohort, were contrasted with those without regression (n = 241) at first assessment (age range 19-60 months) and at 2-year follow-up on a range of measures. The regression group was significantly more functionally impaired, with regard to intellectual function (p < .001), language development (p < .001), and to severity of autism (p < .01) at both T1 and T2. Only 14 (23.3%) had a clearly identified underlying etiology [24 (18.6%) in the non-regressive group]. There were no significant differences between those who had regressed 'from normal' and those who had regressed 'from low' functioning., Author(s): Lucy Thompson [sup.1] [sup.2] , Christopher Gillberg [sup.1] [sup.2] , Sara Landberg [sup.1] , Anne-Katrin Kantzer [sup.1] , Carmela Miniscalco [sup.1] , Martina Barnevik Olsson [sup.1] [sup.3] , Mats [...]

Introduction: Grandparents are often highly involved as secondary caregivers for their grandchildren and may influence children's psychological and physical health outcomes. The purpose of the current review was to gather [...]

Several longitudinal studies are conducted to analyze the benefits of the policy intervention in the UK that helped in the production of knowledge for Mode 2 initiatives. The various tensions that occur between the different competing institutional logics are also analyzed.

Byline: Jonathan Zaff (1), Michelle Boyd (2), Yibing Li (2), Jacqueline V. Lerner (3), Richard M. Lerner (2) Keywords: Civic engagement; Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); Measurement invariance; Multi-group CFA; Longitudinal research; Adolescence Abstract: Civic participation does not necessarily equate to civic engagement. However, to date, integrated measures of civic engagement that go beyond civic behaviors have not been developed. In this article, we propose an integrated construct of civic engagement, active and engaged citizenship (AEC), that includes behavioral, cognitive, and socioemotional constructs. Using data from 909 adolescents (62.4% girls) who took part in the Grades 8--10 assessments of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), we assessed the structure and measurement invariance of AEC. AEC was proposed as a second-order latent construct that encompasses four first-order latent factors: Civic Duty, Civic Skills, Neighborhood Social Connection, and Civic Participation. Measurement invariance was tested over time (from Grade 8 to Grade 10) and between boys and girls. The results supported strong invariance of AEC over time and between sexes. Implications of AEC for future research and practice are discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) America's Promise Alliance, 1110 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20005, USA (2) Tufts University, Medford, USA (3) Boston College, Boston, USA Article History: Registration Date: 16/04/2010 Received Date: 21/12/2009 Accepted Date: 16/04/2010 Online Date: 15/05/2010

In this 2-year longitudinal study, we hypothesized that sex of the human child (Homo sapiens), differences in physical activity, and time of the year would interact to influence preschool children's sex segregation. We also hypothesized that activity would differentially relate to peer rejection for boys and girls. Consistent with the first hypothesis, high-activity girls started off as the most integrated group bur became more segregated with time, whereas high-activity boys remained the most segregated group across the duration of the study. The second hypothesis was also supported: For girls only, activity was significantly related to peer rejection during Year 1 only, the time when high-activity girls also interacted frequently with boys. Results are discussed in terms of sexual selection theory and gender boundary violations. Keywords: sexual segregation, physical activity, sex roles, sexual dimorphism DOI: 10.1037/a0018083

The scores of 4- to 16-year-olds on a child behavior checklist made in 1983 is compared with those of their 6- to 18-year-old offsprings that were done in 2007. It is found that most forms of problem behavior in children were predicted by their parent's behavior as children and that continuity is stronger in mothers than fathers and in sons than in daughters.

We investigate positive effects of volunteering on psychological well-being and self-reported health using all four waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Confirming previous research, volunteering was positively related to both outcome variables. Both consistency of volunteering over time and diversity of participation are significantly related to well-being and self-reported health. The relationship of volunteering to psychological well-being was moderated by level of social integration, such that those who were less well integrated benefited the most. Mattering appears to mediate the link between volunteering and well-being. Controls for other forms of social participation and for the predictors of volunteering are employed in analyses of well-being in 1992. We find volunteering effects on psychological well-being in 2004, controlling for 1992 well-being, thus providing strong evidence for a causal effect.

Personality disorders (PDs), long thought to be immutable over time, show considerable evidence of individual change and malleability in modern prospective longitudinal studies. The factors responsible for the evident individual change in PDs over time, however, remain essentially unknown. A neurobehavioral model that posits negative emotion (NEM), nonaffective constraint (CON), communal positive emotion (PEM-C), and agentic positive emotion (PEM-A) as important systems underlying PD provides a theoretical basis for investigating predictors of change in PD features over time. Thus, in this study, the authors investigated how individual change in NEM, CON, PEM-C, and PEM-A over time predicted individual change in PD features over time, using longitudinal data on PD assessed by the International Personality Disorders Examination (A. W. Loranger, 1999), as well as data on normal personality features gathered within a 4-year prospective multiwave longitudinal study (N = 250). The authors used the method of latent growth modeling to conduct their analyses. Lower initial levels of PEM-C predicted initial levels of the growth trajectories for those with elevated Cluster A PD features. Elevated NEM, lower CON, and elevated PEM-A initial levels were found to characterize the initial levels of growth trajectories for those with increased Cluster B PD features. Interestingly, subjects with higher initial levels of PEM-A revealed a more rapid rate of change (declining) in Cluster B PD features over time. Elevated NEM and decreased PEM-C initial levels were found to characterize the growth trajectories for subjects with increased Cluster C PD features. The substantive meaning of these results is discussed, and the methodological advantages offered by this statistical approach are also highlighted. Keywords: personality disorder, personality, negative emotion, nonaffective constraint, longitudinal individual growth trajectories

Cross-sectional studies have suggested that food insecurity leads to obesity in women. The objective of this longitudinal study was to determine whether changes in women's food security status were associated with changes in their body weight. In 20 large U.S. cities, 1707 mothers of preschool children were followed for 2 y. At baseline (2001-2003) and follow-up (2003-2005), women's height and weight were measured and food security status was assessed with the US Household Food Security Survey Module. Those with no positive responses on the food security items were considered fully food secure and those with any positive responses were considered not fully food secure. Seventy-one percent were unmarried and 45% had incomes below the U.S. poverty threshold. At baseline, 41% were obese (BMI [greater than or equal to]30 kg/[m.sup.2]) and 31% were not food secure. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and baseline BMI, there were no significant differences in 2-y weight increases between 4 groups that differed in food security status: food secure at both time points (n = 1000), 1.7 kg (95% Cl = 1.1-2.3); food secure at baseline, but not at follow-up (n = 183), 2.1 kg (95% Cl = 0.7-3.5); not food secure at either time point (n = 257), 1.7 kg (95% Cl = 0.5-2.9); and not food secure at baseline but food secure at follow-up (n = 267), 1.9 kg (95% Cl = 0.7-3.0). In this population of urban women, changes in food security status over 2 y were not significantly associated with changes in weight. These findings do not support a causal association between food insecurity and obesity.

Interventions for a variety of emotional and behavioral problems are commonly delivered in the context of treatment groups, with many using rolling admission to sustain membership (i.e., admission, dropout, and discharge from group are perpetual and ongoing). The authors present an overview of the analytic challenges inherent in rolling group data and outline commonly used (but flawed) analytic and design approaches to addressing (or sidestepping) these issues. Moreover, the authors propose use of latent class pattern mixture models (LCPMMs) as a statistically and conceptually defensible approach for modeling treatment data from rolling groups. The LCPMM approach is illustrated with rolling group data from a group-based alcoholism pilot treatment trial (N = 128). Different inferences were made with regard to treatment efficacy under LCPMM vs. the commonly used standard group-clustered latent growth model (LGM); coupled with other preliminary findings in this area, inferences from LGMs may be overly liberal when applied to data from rolling groups. Continued work on data analytic difficulties in groups with membership turnover is critical for furthering the ecological validity of research on behavioral treatments. Keywords: group therapy, rolling admissions, group membership, missing data, pattern mixtures Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.75.4.580.supp

Despite evidence that hospital use of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) declined in the 1990s, the current registered nurse (RN) shortage has prompted interest in LPNs as substitutes for RNs. Hospitals, being the dominant employer of RNs, have an economic incentive to use less expensive LPNs as substitutes. Beside wages, there are several forces underlying hospital demand for LPNs. In this article, the authors model and estimate hospital demand for LPNs as a function of nurse wages and hospital, market, and patient characteristics using a longitudinal data set of short-term general hospitals in the United States. The authors find evidence that higher RN wages increase hospital demand for LPNs, both in levels and relative to RNs, suggesting that hospitals at least partially substitute RNs with LPNs. Keywords: licensed practical nurse; nurse labor demand; nurse hospital employment: nurse wages; longitudinal analysis

This report provides some initial findings from an investigation of the relations between childhood Big Five personality traits assessed by elementary school teachers and similar traits assessed 40 years later by self-reports at midlife (N = 799). Short-term (1-3 years) test-retest reliabilities were lower (.22-.53) in childhood when personality was developing than they were in adulthood (.70-.79) when personality stability should be at its peak. Stability coefficients across the 40-year interval between the childhood assessment and the 2 measures of adulthood personality were higher for Extraversion (e.g., .29) and Conscientiousness (e.g., .25) than for Openness (e.g., .16), Agreeableness (e.g., .08), and Neuroticism (e.g., .00). Construct continuity between childhood and adulthood was evaluated by canonical analysis and by structural equation modeling and indicated continuity at both a broad, two-dimensional level and at the level of the Big Five. The findings are discussed in relation to A. Caspi, B. W. Roberts, and R. L. Shiner's (2005) principles of rank-order personality stability. Keywords: personality stability, Big Five, construct continuity, longitudinal study

This current, longitudinal study addresses two critical issues related to underrepresented gifted: identification and programming. As a follow-up of minority and low-income students identified as gifted in middle school, the study provides insight into the potential predictive value of specific gifted attributes on later academic performance: high-school graduation, matriculation in an institution of higher learning, and completion of a college degree. Findings support the value of multiple forms of identification, specifically in problem-solving, teacher identification of leadership ability, and grade point average. The study also evaluates the impact on academic outcomes of a long-term, university/school pre-college partnership program for middle- and senior-high-school underrepresented gifted. Results show a significant relationship between the level of student involvement in program activities and successful achievement of academic outcomes., 'Those who have the potential for succeeding as gifted adults require not only the personal attributes often mentioned in definitions of giftedness, but also some special encounters with the environment [...]

Objective: To describe the risk factors for various types of attrition in three age cohorts of women in a longitudinal study and to discuss strategies to minimise attrition. Methods: Analysis of survey data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, collected by mailed questionnaire. In 1996, the study recruited and surveyed a national random sample of 'younger' (18-23 years, n=14,247), 'mid-age' (45-50 years, n=13,716), and 'older' women (70-75 years, n=12,432), and began a staggered cycle of mailed follow-up questionnaires: 1998 (mid-age), 1999 (older), 2000 (younger) and so on. Demographic, health and social risk factors for attrition were examined using multivariate analysis. Results: Attrition at survey 2 was highest among younger women (32%), mainly because of participants not being contactable (21%), and lower among the older (16%) and mid-age women (10%). At survey 1, the survey 2 non-respondents were more likely to report having less education, being born in a non-English-speaking country and being a current smoker, in all cohorts, and had poorer health (mid-age and older cohort) and more difficulty managing on their income (younger and mid-age). Conclusion: Although the magnitude of different types of attrition was found to differ by age, there were several risk factors for attrition that remained consistent. These findings are important to inform future studies on ways to lessen or prevent systematic loss of participants. Implications: Recruitment and follow-up methods in longitudinal studies should be tailored to maximise retention of participants at higher risk of dropout.

Longitudinal analysis of 10-year follow-up data on objectified body consciousness, body esteem, weight-related attitudes and behaviors, and psychological well-being in 74 middle-aged and 72 young women tested hypotheses developed from age-related change and cohort differences models of body experience. Young women's body surveillance and body shame decreased, and their body esteem increased, supporting an age-related changes model. Relationships between variables were relatively consistent with the 2 cohorts across data waves, supporting a cohort differences model, although nonoverlapping cohorts limit the interpretation of the data. The importance of developmental context in understanding women's body experience is discussed. Keywords: body image, longitudinal studies, human females, objectified body consciousness, feminism

This study tests the effect of neighborhood changes on gonorrhea rates. Prior studies that indicate gonorrhea rates are associated with alcohol outlet density and neighborhood deterioration have been cross-sectional and cannot establish causality. After the 1992 Civil Unrest in Los Angeles, 270 alcohol outlets surrendered their licenses due to arson and vandalism thus providing a natural experiment. We geocoded all reported gonorrhea cases from 1988 to 1996 in LA County, all annually licensed alcohol outlets, and all properties damaged as a result of the civil unrest. We ran individual growth models to examine the independent effects of changes in alcohol outlets and damaged buildings on gonorrhea. The individual growth model explained over 90% of the residual variance in census tract gonorrhea rates. After the civil unrest, a unit decrease in the number of alcohol outlets per mile of roadway was associated with 21 fewer gonorrhea cases per 100,000 (p< .01) in tracts affected by the Unrest compared to those not affected. Neighborhood alcohol outlets appear to be significantly associated with changes in gonorrhea rates. The findings suggest that efforts to control sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea and HIV, should address contextual factors that facilitate high-risk behaviors and disease transmission Keywords: Gonorrhea; Alcohol outlets; Civil unrest; 'Broken windows'; GIS; Los Angeles; Growth model

A longitudinal study on how organizations deal with radical changes in the interorganizational networks is presented.

A study analyzing the longitudinal tracer approach for studying the relevance gap in the context of researcher-practitioner is presented. The tracer is, in effect, a methodological middle-range method of allowing the practitioners into research process. It also makes the research a relevant material for practitioners.

Age differences within the yo-yo trend in IQ, caused when aging norms that produce inflated scores are replaced with new norms, are examined using longitudinal WISC, WISC -R and WISC-III records of students tested for special education services from 10 school districts. Results reveal a complex relationship between IQ and age and, shows the benefits of using individual growth modeling to uncover patterns within longitudinal data that would otherwise be obscured with more traditional analytic techniques.

Longitudinal changes within and across intellectual and sensory variables as a dynamic system are systematically analyzed and some hypotheses about longitudinal prediction are explored. Reliable, occasion based, age partialed latent regression paths that influence longitudinal changes within and across intellectual and sensory domains are found and it can be concluded that intellectual and sensory domains are dynamically linked in old and very old age.

A study is conducted to analyze corporate lobbying on the United Kingdom Accounting Standards Board. It also shows the impact of corporate lobbying on income-related issues. This study uses multi-issue/ multi-period approach.

Menarche is the hallmark maturational event of female childhood. Many studies indicated a significant genetic contribution to the timing of the onset of menstruation, but most of these studies were limited by the use of retrospective data and by the use of data from only certain types of relatives (i.e., mothers and daughters, sisters, or twin sisters). The primary goal of this study was to use a modern maximum likelihood quantitative genetic method to estimate the heritability ([h.sup.2]) of age at menarche, using familial data collected over the course of the 74-year-old Fels Longitudinal Study. The secondary goal was to review earlier studies of the heritability of age at menarche. The study of the heritability of age at menarche presented here is unique for two reasons. First, because of the Fels Longitudinal Study's serial design, age-at-menarche data were collected prospectively from most participants. Second, because the Fels Longitudinal Study is a family study that has been conducted for decades, age-at-menarche data are available from many types of female relatives spanning multiple households and generations. The best-fitting and most parsimonious quantitative genetic model included provision for a secular decrease in age at menarche, and estimated the [h.sup.2] of age at menarche to be 0.49 [+ or -] 0.13 (95% confidence interval of [h.sup.2], = 0.24-0.73). The results of this study are in general agreement with the findings of most previous studies of genetic influences on age at menarche, and suggest that it is reasonable to consider it well-established that approximately half the phenotypic variation among girls from developed nations in the timing of menarche is due to genetic factors. Am J Phys Anthropol 128:210-219, 2005. KEY WORDS menarche; heritability; Fels Longitudinal Study

An examination on the explicit memory and priming with reference to multiple tests over four annual data-collection waves in a large group of older persons without dementia at baseline was done. The findings indicate that explicit memory and priming are dissociable based on age-related change and that mildly reduced priming is not an inevitable consequence of growing older.

Pattern-mixture models are frequently used for longitudinal data analysis with dropouts because they do not require explicit specification of the dropout mechanism. These models stratify the data according to time to dropout and formulate a model for each stratum. This usually results in underindentifiability, because we need to estimate many pattern-specific parameters even though the eventual interest is usually on the marginal parameters. In this article we extend this framework to a random pattern-mixture model, where the pattern-specific parameters are treated as nuisance parameters and modeled as random instead of fixed. The pattern is defined according to a surrogate for the dropout process. A constraint is then put on the pattern by linking it to the time to dropout using a random-effects survival model. We assume, conditional on the latent pattern effects, that the longitudinal outcome and the dropout process are independent. This model retains the robustness of the traditional pattern-mixture models, while avoiding the overparameterization problem. When we define each subject as a separate stratum, this model reduces to the shared parameter model. Maximum likelihood estimates are obtained using an EM Newton-Raphson algorithm. We apply the method to the depression data from the Prevention of Suicide in Primary Care Elderly Collaborative Trial (PROSPECT). We show when the dropout information is adjusted for under the proposed model, the treatment seems to reduce depression in the elderly. KEY WORDS: Dropout; EM algorithm; Mixed-effects model; Pattern-mixture mode., 1. INTRODUCTION Many longitudinal studies suffer from attrition, which can cause bias in the analysis if the dropouts are informative. To account for informative dropout, a number of model-based approaches [...]

This study examined the relationship between three midlife transitions and depressive symptoms among 952 women 50 to 59 years of age. Using longitudinal data from women interviewed for the 1992 and 2000 Health and Retirement Study, the study described changes in marital status, change to a parental caregiving role, and changes in perceived health across the eight years. Further, it examined the impact of these changes on mental health. The findings indicate that becoming widowed, becoming a caregiver, and perceiving health declines significantly increased depressive symptoms in the year 2000, even when controlling for pre-transition levels of depressive symptoms. The findings are consistent with the lifecourse perspective that individual development occurs in context and across the lifespan. The findings confirm and add to current midlife research literature.

ABSTRACT We examine the online privacy policies of the Fortune e50 firms to determine the extent to which online firms are committed to protect online consumer privacy. In addition, to [...]

The National Health and Medical Research Council, Research Agenda Working Group (RAWG), and the literature on Indigenous health have identified the need to fill gaps in descriptive data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and noted both the lack of research with urban populations and the need for longitudinal studies. This paper presents some of the broad ethical and methodological challenges associated with longitudinal research in Indigenous health and focuses particularly on national studies and studies in urban areas. Our goal is to advance debate in the public health arena about the application of ethical guidelines and the conduct of longitudinal studies in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We encourage others to offer their experiences in this field.

Describing the intermediate deformation steps on the mechanical behavior of Bi-based tapes, the effect of longitudinal applied strain is investigated by means of magneto-optical imaging is discussed. Although the colony boundaries in BSCCO tapes determine the crack location under strain, in YBCO coated conductor the nickel grain structure dominates the crack formation.

Retaining school-aged study participants poses a major challenge in any longitudinal research study. Dropouts produce bias in the remaining sample and this loss may affect study findings and their interpretation. Dominant factors that influence retention in pediatric research studies include family versus individual participation, patient management strategies of study personnel, knowledge about the condition or therapy, age and gender factors, credibility within the community, monetary incentives, and altruism. Eleven years after baseline assessment, Studies of Children's Activity and Nutrition boasts a 53% retention of the original biethnic cohort in San Diego. Retention occurred partly due to a trained measurement team which completed sequential observations primarily in family homes and implemented continuous participant follow-up procedures. Approaches for increasing student retention based on carefully designed studies and adherence indicators can assist researchers seeking maximum retention of school-aged participants. (J Sch Health. 2003;73(2):51-57), Success or failure of longitudinal research often depends on retention of participants after they enter the study. Dropouts produce bias affecting study findings and interpretation, so investigators must be alert [...]

Psychosocial profiles of 122 Swedish boys at age 10 were studied to see how the socioeconomic status of their parents, their ability to concentrate, intelligence, school success and levels of anxiety predicted alcohol use as adults. Low socioeconomic status and motivational difficulties at school were two risk factors for alcohol abuse.

A study of 122 Swedish men from age 4 to age 35 revealed that children who are extroverted and outgoing were more likely to have alcohol problems as adults.

Linda H.Y Yau is Senior Statistician, GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 (E-mail: 1y20993@gskcom). Roderick J. Little is Professor, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (E-mail: rlittle@umich.edu). This work was supported by NIMH grant P30 MH38330-12 and was completed in part while the first author was graduate student, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48019. The authors thank Rick Price, Amiram Vinokur for their valuable support and suggestions, and Don Rubin for his helpful advice., ********** Longitudinal studies involving human participants are often complicated by subjects who do not comply with their treatment assignment or do not provide complete data. A treatment effect of interest [...]

A longitudinal examination of the relation between separation experiences and the development of separation anxiety at age 3, 11 and 18 years was conducted. Three associative pathways (Rachman, S.J. (1978). Fear and courage. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman) were assessed. Conditioning events were not related to separation anxiety at age 3. Vicarious learning (modelling) in middle childhood (age 9 years) was the conditioning variable most strongly related to separation anxiety at age 11, accounting for 1.8% of the variance in symptoms. Separation experiences (hospitalisations) before the age of 9 were inversely correlated with separation anxiety at age 18. That is, more overnight hospital stays in childhood were related to less separation anxiety in late adolescence. However, none of these conditioning correlates remained significant predictors of separation anxiety in adjusted regression models. In contrast, certain 'planned' separations in early-mid childhood were associated with lower levels of separation anxiety at later ages. Generally, the findings were consistent with predictions from the non-associative theory of fear acquisition. That vicarious learning processes appeared to modulate, albeit to a minor degree, the expression of separation anxiety during mid-late childhood suggests that there may be critical periods during which some individuals are susceptible to the interactive effects of both associative and non-associative processes. These findings serve to illustrate the complexity of fear acquisition, the relevance of developmental factors and the likely interplay between associative and non-associative processes in the etiology of fear and anxiety.