Researchers in behavioral sciences are often interested in longitudinal behavior change outcomes and the mechanisms that influence changes in these outcomes over time. The statistical models that are typically implemented to address these research questions do not allow for investigation of mechanisms of dynamic change over time. However, latent…

Research in human development often relies on composites, that is, composed variables such as indices. Their composite nature renders these variables inaccessible to conventional factor-centric psychometric validation techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the context of human development research, there is currently no…

Mediation has played a critical role in developmental theory and research. Yet, developmentalists rarely discuss the methodological challenges of establishing causality in mediation analysis or potential strategies to improve the identification of causal mediation effects. In this article, we discuss the potential outcomes framework from…

Over the past decade or so, developments in language comprehension research in the domain of cognitive aging have converged on support for resilience in older adults with regard to situation model updating when reading texts. Several studies have shown that even though age-related declines in language comprehension appear at the level of the…

Peer influence is a twofold process that entails a behavior by an agent of influence that elicits conformity from the target of influence. Susceptibility describes the likelihood that conformity will occur. This review focuses on factors that shape susceptibility to peer influence. We argue that conformity has two distinct sources. In some…

The present article proposes a new developmental model of how young infants adapt and respond to complex contingencies in their environment, and how this influences development. The model proposes that typically developing infants adjust to an increasingly complex environment in ways that make it easier for them to allocate limited attentional…

Optimal cognitive development is defined in this article as the highest level of cognitive function reached in each cognitive domain given a person's biological and genetic disposition, and the highest possible maintenance of cognitive function over the adult life course. Theoretical perspectives underpinning the development of a framework…

Analyses of children's peer relations have recently begun considering interpersonal behaviors and perceptions from the perspective of the Social Relations Model. An extension of this model, the Triadic Relations Model (TRM), allows for consideration and analysis of more complex three-person data to understand triadic processes; separate…

Null hypothesis testing (NHT) is the most commonly used tool in empirical psychological research even though it has several known limitations. It is argued that since the hypotheses evaluated with NHT do not reflect the research-question or theory of the researchers, conclusions from NHT must be formulated with great modesty, that is, they cannot…

This study followed a school-based sample (N = 920) to explore how trajectories of depressive symptoms and expressed anger from age 18 to 25, along with important life transitions, predicted life and career satisfaction at age 32. A two-group (women and men) bivariate growth model revealed that higher depressive symptoms at age 18 predicted lower…

Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a method for identifying multiple unobserved sub-populations, describing longitudinal change within each unobserved sub-population, and examining differences in change among unobserved sub-populations. We provide a practical primer that may be useful for researchers beginning to incorporate GMM analysis into their…

This study examined the ways in which Japanese adolescents handle disagreements with parents, and the extent to which the cultural values of emotional bonds within the family predict adolescents' reported handling of disagreements. Adolescents (N = 1029), aged 12 to 25 years, reported their projected actions in response to six hypothetical…

A transactional model was used to examine the reciprocal relationship between maternal negativity and child externalizing behavior over three time points. Data were collected from 1,479 children and their mothers every two years, as part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Children were 10-11 years old at Time 1,…

Growth curve modeling has become a mainstay in the study of development. In this article we review some of the flexibility provided by this technique for describing and testing hypotheses about: (1) intraindividual change across multiple occasions of measurement, and (2) interindividual differences in intraindividual change. Through empirical…

The current paper explores the salience and impact of ethnic and national identities for immigrants that are negotiating more than two cultures. Specifically, we were interested in the ways in which Jewish immigrant adolescents from the former Soviet Union integrate their Russian, Jewish, and American identities, and to what extent identification…