Methods and measures: growth mixture modeling: a method for identifying differences in longitudinal change among unobserved groups
Open accessAbstract
Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a method for identifying multiple unobserved sub-populations, describing longitudinal change within each unobserved sub-population, and examining differences in change among unobserved sub-populations. We provide a practical primer that may be useful for researchers beginning to incorporate GMM analysis into their research. We briefly review basic elements of the standard latent basis growth curve model, introduce GMM as an extension of multiple-group growth modeling, and describe a four-step approach to conducting a GMM analysis. Example data from a cortisol stress-response paradigm are used to illustrate the suggested procedures.
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Growth mixture modeling is a statistical method designed to identify classes of individuals who are homogeneous in terms of their longitudinal change in a set of variables of interest.
“Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a statistical method designed to identify classes of 90 individuals who are homogeneous in terms of their longitudinal change in a set of 91 variables of interest (Muthén, 2006; Ram and Grimm, 2009).”
From Time in treatment: Examining mental illness trajectories across inpatient psychiatric treatment (2020) · cites this paper as Ram and Grimm, 2009
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- Authors
- Ram, N., & Grimm, K. J.
- Affiliations
- The Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany,
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
- ORCID
- Grimm, Kevin J.
- Venue
- International Journal of Behavioral Development
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-10-26
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 565-576
- ISSN
- 0165-0254 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0651
- PMC
- PMC3718544
- OpenAlex
- W2121236536
- Cited by
- 1,143
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 126 · 2025: 116 · 2024: 109 · 2023: 111 · 2022: 105 · 2021: 106 · 2020: 89 · 2019: 80 · 2018: 87 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 13.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Behavioral Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (T32AG020500)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Keywords
- growth mixture modeling, longitudinal change, cortisol stress response
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