Analyzing diary data: Multilevel approach

Analyzing diary data: Multilevel approach

Asko Tolvanen & Kaisa AunolaMethodology Center for Human Science&

Department of Psychology University of Jyväskylä

From a quantitative point of view,the use of diary design provides a possibility to:

(a) Obtain reliable person-level information(b) Obtain estimates of within-person change

over time, as well as individual differences in such change

(c) Conduct a causal analysis of within-person changes and individual differences in these changes

Bolger, Davis, & Rafaeli, 2003

You may, for example, be interested in to investigate not only individual level processes (i.e., individual differences) but also day level (i.e., within individual differences, for

example, from day-to-day) processes, and cross-level interactions…

Different processes may be going on at different levels.

For example,

At the person-level => positive correlation between parental affection and

guilt-inducing parenting (those typically showing high affection, also typically use quilt-inducing in child rearing)

At the day-level => negative correlation between parental affection and

guilt-inducing parenting (on the days parents show high affection, they don’t use guilt-inducing, and vice versa, i.e. they do not use these two types of parenting simultaneously)

Cross-level interaction: e.g., there are indivdiual differences in the processes going on at the day level

Multilevel modeling is a feasible tool to analyze both

a) between-person differences and

b) within-person changes… as well as interpersonal differences in these within-person

changes

The term ”multilevel” refers to a hierarchical or nested data structure

= cluster sampling

Nested means that the data includes different levels:

- family members nested within families

- pupils nested within schools

- spouses nested within couples

- time-points nested within individuals

- etc.

Observations nested within a certain cluster share something which makes them more or less similar with each other.

Family 1

Mother 1 Father 1

Child 1

Family 2

Mother 2 Father 2

Child A 2 Child B 2 Family 3

Mother 3

Child A3

Child B3

Individual 1

Mon Tue

Wed

Mon Tue

Wed Thu

Tue

Wed

Thu

Individual 2

Individual 3

’Clusters’

The variation in measured variables is due toa) individual differences ANDb) differences within individuals, i.e.

differences between days

Multilevel modeling is used when the data have been obtained by cluster sampling (i.e., nested design)

… to avoid biases in parameter estimates, standard errors, and tests of model fit

(if clustering is not taking account, s.e.’s are too small and, thus, t-values are too big)

… to learn about both within- and between-cluster relationships.

Muthén & Muthén, 2004

Technically…

… the variation of variables are divided into two parts

(1) Between-level variance

(2) Within-level variance

… there may also be variables that have variation only at the between-level or only at the within-level.

=> two separate covariance-matrixes, one for each level

Parental Affectionbetween

Guilt-inducingbetween

Parental Affectionwithin

Guilt-inducingwithin

Between-level(e.g., between individuals)

Within-level(e.g., within-individuals; between timepoints or days)

Parental Affection

Guilt-inducing parenting

R = .20

R = -.20

Psychological Control in Daily Parent–Child Interactions

Increases Children’s Negative Emotions Journal of Family Psychology (2013)

Kaisa Aunola, Asko Tolvanen, Jaana Viljaranta, & Jari-Erik Nurmi

AimsThe aim of the study was to examine the daily dynamics between parental behaviors, i.e., affection and psychological control, and children’s negative emotions:

Negative emotions

Negative emotions

Psychological control / Affection


BETWEEN-PERSON LEVEL


Negative emotions

t-1 tWITHIN-PERSON LEVEL

Participants and Procedure• LIGHT-data (150 mothers, 115 fathers, 150

children (Grade 1))

• Daily diary across one week period for mothers and fathers during the Autumn term of Grade 1– Negative daily emotions (8 items); Within-level

alphas .72-.78– Psychological control (5 items) and affection (4 items)

in daily parenting; Within-level alphas .67-.73

Results

Negativeemotions / mother report

Negativeemotions / father report

Psychological contol / mother

Psychological control/ father

Affection / mother

Affection / father

.40

.41

.42

.43

.58

.56

Children’s negative emotions and mothers’ and fathers’ psychological control varied more between days than between persons, whereas mothers’ and fathers’ affection varied more between persons than between days.

Intraclass correlations (ICC) were first calculated to determine what proportion of the variance in the observed variables is due to the differences between individuals (between-person variation) and what is due to differences experienced by each individual on different days (within-person variation):

ICC Intraclass correlation (ICC):

Between-cluster variability relative to total variation, i.e. intra-class homogeneity

An example of daily variation in parenting

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Psych. Control / Mother 1

affection / Mother 1

Avarage value of affection (across days)

Avarage value of psychological control (across days)

Mothers’reports

Fathers’reports

.56

.55

Mothers’reports

Fathers’reports

.53

.52

WITHIN-PERSON LEVEL

Negative emotions

Negative emotions

Psychological control




Mothers’report

Fathers’report

.78

.70

Negative emotions

-.07*

.06*

-.08***

.06***

.53*** .59* **

.68***

Figure 1. Multilevel prospective change model for mothers’ psychological control and children’s negative emotions.

t-1 t

Mothers’reports

Fathers’reports

.53

.57

Mothers’reports

Fathers’reports

.49

.53

WITHIN-PERSON LEVEL

Negative emotions

Negative emotions





Mothers’reports

Fathers’reports

.76

.77

Negative emotions

-.17***

.27***

-.25***

.04

.43*** .46***

.77***

Figure 2. Multilevel prospective change model for fathers’ psychological control and children’s negative emotions.

tt-1

Conclusions

• Mothers’ and fathers’ psychological control in daily interactions increased the negative emotions in their children. In contrast, children’s negative emotions during a given day predicted decreased parental psychological control for the next day.

• The positive relation of psychological control to children’s subsequent negative emotions was significantly stronger when exerted by fathers than when applied by mothers

Emotion transmission within the family: Child’s temperament as a moderator

(manuscript under preparation)

Suvi Kaila, Asko Tolvanen & Kaisa Aunola

Research questions(1) What kind of week trend do parents’ and children’s emotions

show? (2) To what extent parents’ positive and negative emotions are

transferred to their children in daily interaction?(3) To what extent children’s positive and negative emotions are

transferred to their parents in daily interaction?(4) Does children’s temperament impact on emotion transmission in

the family? 4a. Are children with certain temperament characteristics

more prone to receive their parents’ emotions than others? For example, does child’s ’easy’ temperament function as a protective factor against receiving negative emotions from parents?

4b. Are parents more prone to receive emotions from children with certain temperament characteristics?

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu2.8

2.9

3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

Positive emotions

Child / mother-report

Child / father-report

Father

Mother

Scor

e

Week trends in emotions

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu1.3

1.35

1.4

1.45

1.5

1.55

1.6

1.65

1.7

Negative emotions Child / mother-report

Child / father-report

Father

Mother

Scor

e

Transmission of daily emotions

WITHIN (variation within individual; i.e., from day-to-day variation)

TUNNE

S1

Child’s negative emotions

BETWEEN (variation between individuals)

Child’s negative emotionality (temperament)

S1 / S2

Father’s negative emotions

Focus is in the mean and variance of the regression coefficients S1 and S2.

TUNNEChild’s negative

emotions


emotions



t-1 t

S2

Results• At the level of the whole sample, no statistically significant

transmission of emotions was found

• However, there were statistically significant (p < .05) variation in emotion transmission:

– From mothers’ negative emotions to children’s negative emotions– From fathers’ negative emotions to children’s negative emotions– From mothers’ positive emotions to children’s positive emotions

• In each case, child’s negative emotionality functioned as a moderator


TUNNE

S




S

Mother’s negative emotions

.09(.06)

-.04(.04)

Var (S) = .014(.005)**

.10(.04)**

The higher the level of child’s negative emotionality, the more strongly mothers’s negative emotions are transmitted to the child, i.e. children with negative emotionality are more prone to receive negative emotions than others from their mothers?

Mean(S) = -.00(-.03), p ns


emotions


emotions


.16(.05)**

.08(.08).06(.01)***


-.09(.05)*

t-1 t

.04(.01)***.04(.01)***


TUNNE

S




S


.07 ns

-.07ns

Var (S) = .011(.004), p < .05

.09(.03)***

The higher the level of child’s negative emotionality, the more strongly father’s negative emotions are transmitted to the child, i.e. children with negative emotionality are more prone to receive negative emotions than others from their fathers?

Mean(S) = .08, p ns


emotions


emotions


Low High1

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

High emotionalityLow emotionality

Father’s negative emotions on the given day

-1SD +1SD

Child

’s ne

gativ

e em

otion

s on

the

follo

win

g d

ay

Thank you!

Documents

Analyzing diary data: Multilevel approach