Statistical power for longitudinal developmental trajectories: The (non-)impact of age matching within measurement occasions.

ABSTRACT: Recruiting participants for studies of early-life longitudinal development is challenging, often resulting in practical upper bounds in sample size and missing data due to attrition. These factors pose risks for the statistical power of such studies depending on the intended analytic model. One mitigation strategy is to increase measurement precision by conducting assessments of children as close to a fixed chronological age as possible. We present analyses that illustrate how such practices are only sometimes useful, focusing on cases where temporal trajectories are analyzed using multilevel modeling approaches. Simulations were conducted using results from two studies of longitudinal development. Data were generated according to both continuous and discrete developmental processes and fa

SUBMITTER: Lane SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9905214 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature