New Methods - Speakers and Presentations
Sunday, October 15, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
"Trajectories of Physiological Measures in Longitudinal Dyads"
Presentation outline available by clicking here.
Aline Sayer , Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Methodology Program at the Center for Research on Families, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sally Powers , Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Research on Families, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Sayer is a developmental psychologist with an extensive background in both child and adolescent development and in quantitative methodology. She specializes in new statistical strategies for studying individual development over time. These include hierarchical linear models and structural equation models. Her current focus is on embedding measurement indicators in growth curve models using both multilevel and covariance structure analysis. She is also interested in models that capture the interdependencies in data obtained from couples and other dyads.
Dr. Powers ia a developmental psychopathologist whose research investigates the interaction of normal developmental processes and psychopathology in adolescents. She has focused on understanding the role of interpersonal behavior in close relationships and social-cognition in the development of psychopathology. Powers most recent studies investigate a biopsychosocial model of factors hypothesized to contribute to the gender difference in the prevalence of adolescent depression.
Abstract: "Trajectories of Physiological Measures in Longitudinal Dyads"
This presentation promotes the application of multilevel models to longitudinal dyadic data. The advent of multilevel models has made possible the simultaneous analysis of both longitudinal trajectories of change and the interpersonal properties of dyadic interaction. The multilevel model for longitudinal dyads is an amalgam of the growth curve model fit to an individual's repeated measures and the multivariate outcomes model fit to cross-sectional matched pairs. We illustrate the model with data from a study of 124 dating partners' trajectories of temporal change in cortisol responses over the course of an experimental conflict negotiation task. We comment on the special measurement issues that arise in collecting and analyzing endocrinological measures as responses to a stressor. We then focus on the assumptions underlying model estimation and the interpretation of the model growth parameters as substantively meaningful constructs, e.g., quadratic recovery curves, inflection points as peak stress, instantaneous rates of growth as change in stress at specific points on the trajectory, and intercepts as reaction to anticipation of a stressor.
Selected Publications:
Sayer, A. G. & Klute, M.M. (2005). Analyzing couples and families: Multilevel methods. In V. L. Bengston, A. C. Acock, K. R. Allen, P. Dilworth-Anderson, & D.M. Klein (Eds.) Sourcebook of family theory and research (pp.289-313). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lyons, K. & Sayer, A. G. (2005). Longitudinal dyad models in family research. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 1048-1060.
Powers, S. I., Pietromonaco, P., Gunlicks, M., & Sayer, A. (2006). Dating couples' attachment styles and patterns of cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a relationship conflict. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 (4), 613-628.
Powers, S. I., Gunlicks, M., Laurent, H., Balaban, S., Bent, E., & Sayer, A. (2006). Differential effects of sub-types of trauma symptoms on couples' hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity and recovery in response to interpersonal stress. Annals of New York Academy of Science, X, 1-4.
