Recently, the developmental trajectory analysis gains a momentum in scientific research. This method was originally used by scientists in social and behavioral research fields to examine trajectories of people who commit crimes. Pretty soon, this methodology has been spread to the medical and public health field to study developmental trajectories of many health related issues, such as developmental trajectories of overweight and obese; developmental trajectories of substance use, such as tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking; developmental trajectories of sexual risk behaviors.
The advantage of this methodology over others is that it can test the hypothesis assuming a non-homogenous distribution of the study population. For example, when studying body growth for population in a country, we simply compute the mean (standard deviation) of the people by age, and use it to describe the growth process. This approach is implicitly assume that body growth follows a normal distribution (homogenous), which may not be true. With this approach, subgroups with totally different growth trajectories combined together, and could not be identified. Data from a growing number of studies also support the advantages of this method over others, including several studies I have conducted recently. One is related to the assessment of a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess a youth behavioral prevention program among pre-teens in the Bahamas, and another involves the evaluation of a Motivational Interviewing Therapy to enhance condom use among HIV positive youth in the United States.If you want to get help, please visit the two links first. Contact me if you need further assistance (jimax168chen@gmail.com)
Like it, but how to do it
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