Life satisfaction among older adult, long-term cancer survivors: A comparison of Black with White survivors.

Objective: This paper proposes and evaluates a model of the relative importance that cancer-related health factor along with other health factors have for the self-rated health and life satisfaction of older adult, long-term cancer survivors. The data are examined in the context of important racial differences in health and life satisfaction along with other covariates including gender and education.

Method: This research utilizes regression-based path analysis to examine data from a sample of 321 older (age 60+), long-term (5+ years since diagnosis) cancer survivors.

Factors Affecting Perceptions of Disability and Self-Rated Health Among Older Adult, Long-Term Cancer Survivors.

Objective: This article examines the relative importance of cancer-related and noncancer illness factors as they predict the health quality of life among older adult, long-term cancer survivors. Specifically, it examines the effects that continuing cancer symptoms and comorbidities have on functional difficulties and how they in turn affect perceptions of disability and self-rated health.

Method: Data from an National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded, tumor registry-based 10-year study of 321 older adult (age 60+), long-term (5+years post diagnosis) survivors of breast colorectal and prostate cancer are examined using regression analyses.

Structural transitions and oligomerization along polyalanine fibril formation pathways from computer simulations.

The results of a computer simulation study of the aggregation kinetics of a large system of model peptides with particular focus on the formation of intermediates are presented. Discontinuous molecular dynamic simulations were used in combination with our intermediate-resolution protein model, PRIME, to simulate the aggregation of a system of 192 polyalanine (KA(14) K) peptides at a concentration of 5 mM and a reduced temperature of T* = 0.13 starting from a random configuration and ending in the assembly of a fibrillar structure.

The relationship between adolescents' news media use and civic engagement: the indirect effect of interpersonal communication with parents.

Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, a longitudinal study involving U.S. adolescents, multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate whether news media use is predictive of a set of civic indicators (civic duty, civic efficacy, neighborhood social connection, and civic participation) for youth in Grades 8, 9, and 10, via an indirect effect of interpersonal communication about politics with parents.

Constructing positive futures: modeling the relationship between adolescents' hopeful future expectations and intentional self regulation in predicting positive youth development.

Intentional self regulation and hopeful expectations for the future are theoretically-related constructs shown to lead to positive youth development (PYD). However, the nature of their relationship over time has not been tested. Therefore, this study explored the associations between hopeful future expectations and intentional self regulation in predicting positive developmental outcomes.

Youth development program participation and intentional self-regulation skills: contextual and individual bases of pathways to positive youth development.

The present research used data from Grades 8, 9, and 10 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, a longitudinal study involving U.S. adolescents, in order to better elucidate the process through which the strengths of youth and the ecological resources promoting healthy development (such as out-of-school-time programs) may contribute to thriving.

Why missing data matter in the longitudinal study of adolescent development: using the 4-H Study to understand the uses of different missing data methods.

The study of adolescent development rests on methodologically appropriate collection and interpretation of longitudinal data. While all longitudinal studies of adolescent development involve missing data, the methods to treat missingness that have been recommended most often focus on missing data from cross-sectional studies. The problems of missing data in longitudinal studies are not described well, there are not many statistical software programs developed for researchers to use, and there are no longitudinal empirical examples involving adolescent development that show the extent to which different missing data procedures can yield different results.

Use of missing data methods in longitudinal studies: the persistence of bad practices in developmental psychology.

Developmental science rests on describing, explaining, and optimizing intraindividual changes and, hence, empirically requires longitudinal research. Problems of missing data arise in most longitudinal studies, thus creating challenges for interpreting the substance and structure of intraindividual change. Using a sample of reports of longitudinal studies obtained from three flagship developmental journals-Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Journal of Research on Adolescence-we examined the number of longitudinal studies reporting missing data and the missing data techniques used.

Problematics of Time and Timing in the Longitudinal Study of Human Development: Theoretical and Methodological Issues.

Studying human development involves describing, explaining, and optimizing intraindividual change and interindividual differences in such change and, as such, requires longitudinal research. The selection of the appropriate type of longitudinal design requires selecting the option that best addresses the theoretical questions asked about developmental process and the use of appropriate statistical procedures to best exploit data derived from theory-predicated longitudinal research. This paper focuses on several interrelated problematics involving the treatment of time and the timing of observations that developmental scientists face in creating theory-design fit and in charting in change-sensitive ways developmental processes across life.

More than child's play: variable- and pattern-centered approaches for examining effects of sports participation on youth development.

The authors used data from Grades 5 through 7 of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development to assess relations among sports participation, other out-of-school-time (OST) activities, and indicators of youth development. They used a mixture of variable- and pattern-centered analyses aimed at disentangling different features of participation (i.e.

Nuances in early adolescent developmental trajectories of positive and problematic/risk behaviors: findings from the 4-H study of positive youth development.

Using data from the first three waves of data (Grades 5, 6, and 7) from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), the authors assessed among 1,184 youth (58.5% female) the patterns of change associated with indicators of PYD and of risks/problem behaviors. Results indicated that five PYD trajectories represent change across grades, four trajectories were associated with indicators of internalizing problems, and three trajectories were associated with indicators of externalizing problems.