| Abstract: | Because longitudinal data are increasingly being used to test predictions regarding close relationships, researchers are also increasingly being confronted with methodological issues unique to the analysis of longitudinal data. In this paper, four issues in conducting growth‐curve analyses with married couples are examined: assessing statistical assumptions about homoscedastic and independent errors, handling information about missing data, dealing with couples with only one assessment, and estimating quadratic effects. Each issue is illustrated with actual data, and syntax from the multilevel module in LISREL 8.52 is provided for specific analyses. Guidelines are presented for helping researchers think through each issue with their own data set. |
