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Modeling Pathways of Character Development across the First Three Decades of Life: An Application of Integrative Data Analysis Techniques to Understanding the Development of Hopeful Future Expectations

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Abstract

There were two purposes of the present research: first, to add to scholarship about a key character virtue, hopeful future expectations; and second, to demonstrate a recent innovation in longitudinal methodology that may be especially useful in enhancing the understanding of the developmental course of hopeful future expectations and other character virtues that have been the focus of recent scholarship in youth development. Burgeoning interest in character development has led to a proliferation of short-term, longitudinal studies on character. These data sets are sometimes limited in their ability to model character development trajectories due to low power or relatively brief time spans assessed. However, the integrative data analysis approach allows researchers to pool raw data across studies in order to fit one model to an aggregated data set. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the promises and challenges of this new tool for modeling character development. We used data from four studies evaluating youth character strengths in different settings to fit latent growth curve models of hopeful future expectations from participants aged 7 through 26 years. We describe the analytic strategy for pooling the data and modeling the growth curves. Implications for future research are discussed in regard to the advantages of integrative data analysis. Finally, we discuss issues researchers should consider when applying these techniques in their own work.

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Notes

  1. Curran and Hussong (2009) distinguish between measurement invariance, which applies to studies with the same items, and measurement comparability, which applies to studies with different but similar items. For this demonstration, we selected a construct that shares the same items across studies, and so we focus on measurement invariance here.

  2. Scale averages assume all items are exchangeable, meaning that they have equal factor loadings (DeShon, 2004). Although this assumption is usually not tested, we did examine whether it was feasible in our studies, to provide additional justification for the computation of scale scores. For this test, we began with the models assuming strong invariance and added the additional constraint of equality of factor loadings. The exchangeability constraint produced negligible decreases in model fit (based on the change in the Comparative Fit Index, ΔCFI ≤ .001) for the ACT/4-H and ACT/YES comparisons, but not for the CAMP/4-H comparisons (ΔCFI = .023); see Table 4.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the work of additional principal investigators, project directors, and other staff (including graduate and undergraduate students) to conduct the studies used in the present research. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the participation of schools and youth across the four studies, which made the present research possible. This research was supported in part by grants from the John Templeton Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the National 4-H Council, and the Altria Corporation.

Author Contributions

K.S.C. conceived of the study, spearheaded its design and coordination, prepared the data and performed and interpreted statistical analyses, and had primary responsibility for writing the full manuscript; S.K.J. conceived of the study, participated in the study design and coordination, performed and interpreted statistical analyses, and contributed to writing the manuscript; J.M.T. helped to prepare, manage, and analyze the data, and contributed to writing in the manuscript; M.B. contributed to writing the manuscript; M.B.W. contributed to writing the manuscript; and R.M.L. conceived of the study and contributed to writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University, 26 Winthrop Street, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Kristina Schmid Callina, Sara K. Johnson, Jonathan M. Tirrell, Milena Batanova & Richard M. Lerner

  2. Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University, 26 Winthrop Street, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Sara K. Johnson

  3. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    Michelle B. Weiner

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  1. Kristina Schmid Callina
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Correspondence to Kristina Schmid Callina.

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Ethical Approval

This research used secondary data based on studies conducted at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, all of which received approval from the Internal Review Board at Tufts University.

Informed Consent

All eligible students for the studies used in the current research were fully informed about their voluntary participation. If students wished to refrain from participation, or if their parents disagreed with their children’s participation (as in the cases of the CAMP and 4-H studies), they were free to do so. Only students who provided permission or assent to participate, and who had parental permission to participate, were involved in the studies.

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Callina, K.S., Johnson, S.K., Tirrell, J.M. et al. Modeling Pathways of Character Development across the First Three Decades of Life: An Application of Integrative Data Analysis Techniques to Understanding the Development of Hopeful Future Expectations. J Youth Adolescence 46, 1216–1237 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0660-1

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