Interpreting cross-sectional data on stages of change

Abstract

The vast majority of studies investigating stage theories of health behaviour such as the transtheoretical model have used a cross-sectional research design. Participants are classified into stages and compared on theoretically relevant variables. This paper discusses the proper interpretation of cross-sectional data on stages of change. Linear patterns are not consistent with the stage model assumption that different causal factors are important at different stages but discontinuity patterns (patterns that do not show consistent increments or decrements across stages) can be diagnostic of a stage model. Researchers who use cross-sectional designs should specify predictions concerning the patterns to be expected under a stage model and under possible rival models, and interpret their data accordingly. Wherever possible, they should conduct prospective longitudinal and experimental studies which enable stronger inferences to be drawn.     

Planning and Self-Efficacy in the Adoption and Maintenance of Breast Self-Examination: A Longitudinal Study on Self-Regulatory Cognitions

Many women may be reluctant to perform breast self-examination (B.S.E.) regularly due to motivational or self-regulatory deficits. The Health Action Process Approach (Schwarzer, R. (1992). Self-efficacy in the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors: theoretical approaches and a new model. In: Schwarzer, R. (Ed.), Self-efficacy: Thought Control of Action , pp. 217-243. Hemisphere, Washington DC; Schwarzer, R. (2001). Social-cognitive factors in changing health-related behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 10 , 47-51.), a health behavior change model that advocates the separation of motivation and action phases, such as goal setting and goal pursuit, was applied to data from 418 young women whose risk perceptions, outcome expectancies, self-efficacy, intention to perform B.S.E., planning, and reported examination behaviors were examined at two points in time. Risk perception was found to have a negligible influence in a path analysis, whereas self-efficacy emerged as the best predictor of intention and planning. Planning, in turn, appeared to be the best predictor of B.S.E. behaviors, followed by self-efficacy. The results point to the influential role that self-regulatory strategies (such as planning) play in translating goals into action. The study contributes to the current debate on stage theories of health behavior change and the orchestration of self-beliefs and strategies in the context of goal-directed behaviors.     

A connectionist model of a continuous developmental transition in the balance scale task

A connectionist model of the balance scale task is presented which exhibits developmental transitions between ‘Rule I’ and ‘Rule II’ behavior [Siegler, R. S. (1976). Three aspects of cognitive development. Cognitive Psychology,8, 481–520.] as well as the ‘catastrophe flags’ seen in data from Jansen and van der Maas [Jansen, B. R. J., & van der Maas, H. L. J. (2001). Evidence for the phase transition from Rule I to Rule II on the balance scale task. Developmental Review, 21, 450–494]. The model extends a connectionist model of this task [McClelland, J. L. (1989). Parallel distributed processing: Implications for cognition and development. In R. G. M. Morris (Ed.), Parallel distributed processing: Implications for psychology and neurobiology (pp. 8–45). Oxford: Clarendon Press] by introducing intrinsic variability into processing and by allowing the network to adapt during testing in response to its own outputs. The simulations direct attention to several aspects of the experimental data indicating that children generally show gradual change in sensitivity to the distance dimension on the balance scale. While a few children show larger changes than are characteristic of the model, its ability to account for nearly all of the data using continuous processes is consistent with the view that the transition from Rule I to Rule II behavior is typically continuous rather than discrete in nature.     

From a necessary being to god

Not a lot of work on theistic arguments has been devoted to drawing connections between a necessary being and theistic properties. In this paper, I identify novel paths from a necessary being to certain theistic properties: volition, infinite power, infinite knowledge, and infinite goodness. The steps in those paths are an outline for future work on what William Rowe (The Cosmological Argument, 1975, p. 6) has called “stage II” of the cosmological argument.     

Measuring Moral Progress

The study provides an in-depth analysis of two young adult subjects from a longitudinal study who underwent successive and significant developmental changes. Their developmental patterns, however, are only revealed by a new conception of moral stages, which is both more comprehensive and more detailed than Kohlberg’s original approach. In particular, the suggested alternative taxonomy neatly accommodates what appears as developmental anomalies in the Kohlbergian frame of reference. What is more, apart from merely matching with the observed data, the new theory also explains why the subjects developed the way they did, since it reveals the inherent cognitive conflicts at each stage and how these are resolved at the following one. Although the theory stands against the Kohlberg theory as it is, it may be understood as an extension and further development of the latter, in the sense that Kohlbergian stages are differentiated, supplemented, and theoretically substantiated within the new framework.

An alternative two stage least squares (2SLS) estimator for latent variable equations

The Maximum-likelihood estimator dominates the estimation of general structural equation models. Noniterative, equation-by-equation estimators for factor analysis have received some attention, but little has been done on such estimators for latent variable equations. I propose an alternative 2SLS estimator of the parameters in LISREL type models and contrast it with the existing ones. The new 2SLS estimator allows observed and latent variables to originate from nonnormal distributions, is consistent, has a known asymptotic covariance matrix, and is estimable with standard statistical software. Diagnostics for evaluating instrumental variables are described. An empirical example illustrates the estimator. I gratefully acknowledge support for this research from the Sociology Program of the National Science Foundation (SES-9121564) and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California. This paper was presented at the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Statistical Applications at Indiana University at Bloomington (March 2, 1994) and at the RMD Conference on Causal Modeling at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana (March 3-5, 1994).     

The Quarter-life Time Period: An Age of Indulgence,Crisis or Both?

A new developmental stage called the quarter-life is proposed, extending from approximately 18–29 years of age and sometimes later. The emergence of this period is believed to be the result of several social, historic and economic factors that occurred post WWII. This article explores these changes in terms of the experiences of affluent young people in today’s Western society. A typology of adaptational responses are presented and explored as the quarter-lifers attempt to navigate their way to adulthood within the context of this ‘new’ affluent society. Implications for family therapists are considered.     

The contributions of Rosenbaum's model of self-control and the transtheoretical model to the understanding of exercise behavior

ObjectivesRosenbaum's [1990. The role of learned resourcefulness in the self-control of health behavior. In M. Rosenbaum (Ed.), Learned resourcefulness: On coping skills, self-control, and adaptive behavior (pp. 3–30). New York: Springer Publishing Company; 2000. The self-regulation of experience: openness and construction. In P. Dewe, A. M. Leiter, &; T. Cox (Eds.), Coping and health in organizations (pp. 51–67). London: Taylor and Francis] model of self-control depicts learned resourcefulness as a key component of the goal attainment process. Despite this model's popularity, few studies have examined its importance in the maintenance of exercise. The transtheoretical model of change has been used instead. The two models, nonetheless, share strikingly similar components with the exception of learned resourcefulness.Design/MethodsOur 265 participants, ranging from wanting to be active to being regular exercisers, completed instruments assessing learned resourcefulness, stage of change for exercise, self-efficacy, reasons for exercising and the processes of change for exercise.ResultsAs predicted, participants in the maintenance stage for exercise were on average more highly resourceful than participants in the contemplation, preparation and action stages of change. Low resourceful participants in the contemplation stage of change were the least likely to be employing strategies to help facilitate activity.ConclusionImplications for exercise promoters are discussed.     

The COST of explicit memory

Within Piaget there is an implicit theory of the development of explicit memory. It rests in the dynamical trajectory underlying the development of causality, object, space and time – a complex (COST) supporting a symbolic relationship integral to the explicit. Cassirer noted the same dependency in the phenomena of aphasias, insisting that a symbolic function is being undermined in these deficits. This is particularly critical given the reassessment of Piaget’s stages as the natural bifurcations of a self-organizing dynamic system. The elements of a theoretical framework required to support explicit memory are developed, to include, (1) the complex developmental trajectory supporting the emergence of the explicit in Piaget, (2) the concrete dynamical system and the concept of a non-differentiable time contained in Bergson’s theory required to support a conscious, as opposed to an implicit remembrance, (3) the relation to current theories of amnesia, difficulties posed by certain retrograde amnesic phenomena, the role of the hippocampus and limitations of connectionist models, (4) the fact that nowhere in this overall framework does the loss of explicit memory imply or require the destruction of experience “stored in the brain.”