Latent Growth Curve Model Selection: The Potential of Individual Case Residuals

摘要

An individual case residual procedure for model comparison in longitudinal studies is discussed, which can be used as an aid to overall goodness-of-fit indexes in the process of choosing between rival models as means of data description. The method is based on estimates of subject-specific residuals associated with each repeated measure. The approach facilitates assessment of local fit of considered models and can be especially useful with large samples. The outlined procedure is similarly helpful in the general case for lit assessment of competing structural equation models. The method is readily applicable using the popular software Mplus and R, and is illustrated with a simulated data example as well as with empirical data from a large-scale study of older adults.