Exploring the Latent Structures of Psychological Constructs in Social Development Using the Dimensional–Categorical Spectrum |
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Authors: | Katherine E Masyn Craig E Henderson Paul E Greenbaum |
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Institution: | 1. Harvard University;2. Sam Houston State University;3. University of South Florida |
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Abstract: | This paper provides an introduction to a recently developed conceptual framework—the dimensional–categorical spectrum—for utilizing general factor mixture models to explore the latent structures of psychological constructs. This framework offers advantages over traditional latent variable models that usually employ either continuous latent factors or categorical latent class variables to characterize the latent structure and require an a priori assumption about the underlying nature of the construct as either purely dimension or purely categorical. The modeling process is discussed in detail and then illustrated with data on the delinquency items of Achenbach's child behavior checklist from a sample of children in the National Adolescent and Child Treatment Study. |
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Keywords: | latent variable latent structure factor mixture |
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