Longitudinal data analysis has long played a significant role in empirical research within the developmental sciences. The past decade has given rise to a host of new and exciting analytic methods for studying between-person differences in within-person change. These methods are broadly organized under the term growth curve models. The historical lines of development leading to current growth models span multiple disciplines within both the social and statistical sciences, and this in turn makes it challenging for developmental researchers to gain a broader understanding of the current state of this literature. To help address this challenge, the authors pose 12 questions that frequently arise in growth curve modeling, particularly in applications within developmental psychology. They provide concise and nontechnical responses to each question and make specific recommendations for further readings.

Although several measures of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms exist, most are limited in that they are not consistent with the most recent empirical findings on the nature and dimensional structure of obsessions and compulsions. In the present research, the authors developed and evaluated a measure called the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS) to address limitations of existing OC symptom measures. The DOCS is a 20-item measure that assesses the four dimensions of OC symptoms most reliably replicated in previous structural research. Factorial validity of the DOCS was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of 3 samples, including individuals with OC disorder, those with other anxiety disorders, and nonclinical individuals. Scores on the DOCS displayed good performance on indices of reliability and validity, as well as sensitivity to treatment and diagnostic sensitivity, and hold promise as a measure of OC symptoms in clinical and research settings.

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In the context of an NIAAA/Fetzer Institute-funded study designed to look at the impact of spirituality in an inpatient alcohol treatment, this retrospective case control study investigated whether spiritual growth occurred during an inpatient phase of treatment for alcohol dependence, the degree to which spiritual gains (if noted) would be maintained at follow-up, and whether spiritual growth would be associated with follow-up sobriety. To accomplish this goal, thirty-six individuals who reported relapsing to alcohol at three-month follow-up were compared with thirty-six matched controls who reported abstinence at follow-up. Spiritual development and change was assessed via a set of six measures. Paired t-tests revealed that spiritual growth occurred across all measures during the treatment phase. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that this growth was maintained at three-month follow-up. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that while non-relapsers maintained spiritual growth over the course of four weeks of treatment and in the three-month period following treatment, renewed alcohol use was associated with decreased spirituality.