Multilevel models in developmental psychological research: Rationales and applications

The armoury of statistical techniques has recently been enhanced with the multilevel model for longitudinal data. The present article explains the multilevel model for longitudinal data to the statistically non-sophisticated reader. It shows how the model relates to the five rationales of longitudinal research, as they were put forward by Baltes and Nesselroade (1979). In addition, it shows how the model matches Wohlwill's methodology of developmental functions. To elucidate the model further, three applications are given. The applications pertain to the development of children's sleeping duration during the first 18 months of life, the effects of early hospitalization on the daily frequency of crying, and the developmental relationship between social and solitary play.     

An integrated mindfulness and acceptance-based program for young elite female basketball players: Exploratory study of how it works and for whom it works best

In order to better understand how an integrated mindfulness and acceptance-based intervention works and for whom it works best, study objectives were to examine (i) the trajectories of mindfulness skills and performance-related outcomes during the intervention, and athletes’ perceptions of the impact of the intervention; and (ii) the potential moderating effects of personality characteristics on changes in targeted variables associated with the intervention. The sample consisted of 40 young elite female basketball players (M = 16.33, SD = 0.75 years) from three incoming groups at the French Federal Basketball Center over a 3-year period. All players participated in a 15-week Mindfulness BasketBall Integrated program. They completed online questionnaires measuring personality traits 10 months before the intervention, as well as pre-, mid- and post-intervention measurements of mindfulness skills, intensity and directional interpretation of stress, and performance satisfaction. They also participated in semi-structured social validation interviews conducted one month after the intervention. The results of the multilevel growth curve (MGCA) and thematic analyses revealed how the mindfulness skills and performance-related outcomes evolved over the course of the intervention and how these changes were perceived by the athletes. Specifically, the MGCA showed significant linear increases in acceptance, positive stress direction, and performance satisfaction. The complementary social validation data indicated perceived improvements in mindfulness skills and performance. The MGCA also showed that baseline personality traits moderated the effects of the program on acceptance and experience of stress. These findings may be used to inform the design of more effective integrated mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions.     

The impacts of ignoring individual mobility across clusters in estimating a piecewise growth model

A three-level piecewise growth model (3L-PGM) can be used to break up nonlinear growth into multiple components, providing the opportunity to examine potential sources of variation in individual and contextual growth within different segments of the model. The conventional 3L-PGM assumes that the data are strictly hierarchical in nature, where measurement occasions (level 1) are nested within individuals (level 2) who are members of a single cluster (level 3). However, in longitudinal research, it is sometimes difficult for data structures to remain purely clustered during a study, such as when some students change classrooms or schools over time. One resulting data structure in this situation is known as a multiple membership structure, where some lower-level units are members of more than one higher-level unit. The new multiple membership PGM (MM-PGM) extends the 3L-PGM to handle multiple membership data structures frequently found in the social sciences. This study sought to examine the consequences of ignoring individual mobility across clusters when estimating a 3L-PGM in comparison to estimating a MM-PGM. MM-PGM estimates were less biased (especially in the cluster-level coefficient estimates), although we found substantial bias in cluster-level variance components across some conditions for both models.     

Multilevel metric rank match for person re-identification

Metric learning is one of the important ways to improve the person re-identification (ReID) accurate, of which triplet loss is the most effect metric learning method. However, triplet loss only ranks the extracted feature at the end of the network, in this paper, we propose a multilevel metric rank match (MMRM) method, which ranks the extracted feature on multilevel of the network. At each rank level, the extracted features are ranked to find the hard sample pairs and the backward dissemination triplet loss. Each rank level has different penalize value to adjust the network, in which the value is bigger with the deeper level of the whole network. Experiment results on CUHK03, Market1501 and DukeMTMC datasets indicate that The MMRM algorithm can outperform the previous state-of-the-arts.     

Neuroticism as the intensity,reactivity, and variability in day-to-day affect

Neuroticism has been linked to typical levels of affect, affect reactivity to negative events, and variability in affect over time. However, the intercorrelations among these characteristics make it unclear whether neuroticism reflects unique variance in each of these aspects of emotional life. Data from two daily-diary samples revealed that neuroticism was associated with average levels and variability of positive and negative affect and reactivity of negative affect to stressors, but was only uniquely related to mean levels of positive and negative affect. Findings highlight the substantial overlap in affect indices, suggesting that mean levels of affect, at the very least, are at the core of neuroticism, and reveal the need for further research using more nuanced approaches.     

The TRAMS: The Team-Referent Attributions Measure in Sport

ObjectivesTo provide initial evidence for the construct, concurrent, and predictive validity of the Team-Referent Attributions Measure in Sport (the TRAMS).DesignCross-sectional in Studies 1 and 2, and multiple time points in Study 3.MethodStudy 1 required participants (N = 500) to complete the TRAMS for their “least successful” and “most successful” performances in the preceding three months. In Study 2, after performance, participants (N = 515) completed the TRAMS and the Causal Dimension Scale for Teams (CDS-T; Greenlees et al., 2005). Study 3 required participants (N = 165) to complete a measure of pre-competition collective-efficacy prior to performance (Day 1, Time 1), the TRAMS following performance (Day 1, Time 2), and a measure of subsequent collective-efficacy prior to subsequent performance (Day 7–9, Time 3).ResultsStudy 1 supported the factor structure of the TRAMS across least successful and most successful conditions. Study 2 provided further support for the factor structure of the TRAMS, together with evidence of concurrent validity with subscales of the CDS-T. Study 3 revealed, following team defeat, interactions between controllability and generalisability dimensions: Controllability had a significant effect upon subsequent collective-efficacy when causes of team defeat were also perceived to generalise across situations and/or across teams. Following team victory, stable attributions were positively associated with subsequent collective-efficacy.ConclusionsThis article provides initial evidence for the validity of the TRAMS and demonstrates for team-referent attributions the theoretical advantages of examining a broader conceptualisation of generalisability attributions and interactive effects of attributions.     

Perceived support provided by teachers and classmates and students' self-reported academic initiative

The aim of this study was to examine how perceived support provided by teachers and classmates in the school class environment related to students' academic initiative. Data were from a stratified sample of 13-year-old students (n = 1591) from the Norwegian part of the World Health Organization's survey of Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC). Self-reported academic initiative varied across school classes with a difference (unexplained school class-level variance) of 12%. Perceived teacher support, defined as the provision of fairness and friendliness, varied substantially between classes. In two-level SEM analysis, a latent factor comprising pedagogical caring and autonomy support was substantially related to students' academic initiative at the class level. Perceived classmate support was significantly but moderately associated with academic initiative at the individual level.     

Learning letter names and sounds: Effects of instruction, letter type, and phonological processing skill

Preschool-age children (N = 58) were randomly assigned to receive instruction in letter names and sounds, letter sounds only, or numbers (control). Multilevel modeling was used to examine letter name and sound learning as a function of instructional condition and characteristics of both letters and children. Specifically, learning was examined in light of letter name structure, whether letter names included cues to their respective sounds, and children’s phonological processing skills. Consistent with past research, children receiving letter name and sound instruction were most likely to learn the sounds of letters whose names included cues to their sounds regardless of phonological processing skills. Only children with higher phonological skills showed a similar effect in the control condition. Practical implications are discussed.     

Examining classroom influences on student perceptions of school climate: The role of classroom management and exclusionary discipline strategies

There is growing emphasis on the use of positive behavior supports rather than exclusionary discipline strategies to promote a positive classroom environment. Yet, there has been limited research examining the association between these two different approaches to classroom management and students' perceptions of school climate. Data from 1902 students within 93 classrooms that were nested within 37 elementary schools were examined using multilevel structural equation modeling procedures to investigate the association between two different classroom management strategies (i.e., exclusionary discipline strategies and the use of positive behavior supports) and student ratings of school climate (i.e., fairness, order and discipline, student–teacher relationship, and academic motivation). The analyses indicated that greater use of exclusionary discipline strategies was associated with lower order and discipline scores, whereas greater use of classroom-based positive behavior supports was associated with higher scores on order and discipline, fairness, and student–teacher relationship. These findings suggest that pre-service training and professional development activities should promote teachers' use of positive behavior support strategies and encourage reduced reliance on exclusionary discipline strategies in order to enhance the school climate and conditions for learning.