Logo image
A Rosetta Stone for Modeling Change: Connections among Multilevel Models, Structural Equation Models, and Multilevel Structural Equation Models
Book chapter

A Rosetta Stone for Modeling Change: Connections among Multilevel Models, Structural Equation Models, and Multilevel Structural Equation Models

Lesa Hoffman
Handbook of Research Methods in Developmental Science, pp.483-515
Wiley-Blackwell, Second edition
2026
DOI: 10.1002/9781119880851.ch20

View Online

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the intersection of three families of models for developmental data analysis: multilevel modeling (MLM), single-level structural equation modeling (SEM), and multilevel structural equation modeling (M-SEM). The chapter links notation, diagrams, and terminology across these three frameworks within a running example, and it also describes the similarities and differences in their capabilities more generally. This chapter presents a sequence of models for the analysis of longitudinal change (aka, growth curve models) that examine how time-varying hours spent video gaming predict depression in children over time. To help readers in the practical translation of these strategies to their own research, an online supplement including data, syntax, and output using R, SAS, SPSS, Stata, and M plus for all of the example models (that are available within each program) is available at the author's website: https://www.lesahoffman.com/Research/Chapter21_Supplement.zip .
growth models latent curve longitudinal data models between person within person

Details

Metrics

1 Record Views
Logo image