The Logic and Practice of Growth Curve Analysis: Modeling Strategies for Life Course Dynamics

The expansion of a life course perspective has occurred alongside the development of a number of important statistical innovations. One of particular significance is growth curve analysis for modeling heterogeneity in trajectories over time. In this chapter, we articulate the logic and practice of conventional growth curve analysis and tie it to a set of key theoretical principles in life course social science. Following a brief discussion of the core statistical elements, we use the example of trajectories of body mass as an example of how a life course perspective can be applied to the key social problem of excess weight and obesity. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth – 1997, we examine the social dynamics associated with changes in body mass in the transition to adulthood as a vehicle for elaborating how growth curve analysis works and how one interprets the key statistical quantities. In doing so, we stress the important affinities between key components of life course social science and a growth curve approach as a basis for important empirical assessment of developmental processes over time.