Principles of Latent Growth Curve Modeling

Todd D. Little
University of Kansas

Abstract
The latent growth curve (LGC) modeling workshop will provide researchers of all backgrounds with a conceptual and practical discussion of the general class of LGC procedures. The workshop content will cover the basic principals of LGC modeling and review many of the recent variations and advances in the techniques. Workshop participants will learn the basics of growth curve models and will be introduced to the kinds of questions that LGC models can (and cannot) address in developmental research. Workshop participants will gain a broad exposure to different applications of LGC including such special cases as Latent Difference Scores, multivariate LGCs, Curve of Factors models, Factor of Curves models, Piece-wise Spline models, and Discontinuity models. Participants will be provided with further resources for receiving more detailed training in these methods.

Biography
Todd D. Little has been the senior scientific director of the Research Design and Analysis unit for the Life Span Institute (Steve Warren, director) at the University of Kansas since August 2002. Little is also a Professor in the Department of Psychology at KU where he directs the quantitative training program (quant.ku.edu) and co-directs the developmental training program. Little is internationally recognized for his quantitative work on various aspects of applied Structural Equation Modeling (e.g., indicator selection, parceling procedures, modeling developmental processes, latent interactions) and for his ability to communicate often-complicated SEM material to audiences at all levels of experience and background. From 1991 to 1998, Little was at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education in Berlin, Germany as a research scientist in the Center for Lifespan Research. Prior to arriving at KU, Little was on the faculty of the Department of Psychology at Yale University. In 2001, Little was elected to membership in the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology. Little has published extensively on both quantitative and developmental topics in journals such as Psychological Methods, Multivariate Behavioral Research, and Structural Equation Modeling, as well as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and International Journal of Behavioral Development.