title: Cross-sectional age variance extraction: what's change got to do with it?
abstract: In cross-sectional age variance extraction (CAVE), age, the indicator of a hypothesized developmental mechanism, and a developmental outcome are specified as independent, mediator, and target variables, respectively, to test hypotheses about behavioral development. We show that: (a) longitudinal change in a mediator variable accounting for substantial cross-sectional age-related variance in the target variable need not correlate with the target variable's longitudinal change; and, conversely, (b) longitudinal change in a mediator not sharing cross-sectional age-related variance with the target variable may nevertheless correlate highly with that variable's longitudinal change. We discourage use of CAVE for testing multivariate hypotheses about behavioral development.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. lindenberger@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
authors.forename: Ulman
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lindenberger
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: von Oertzen
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghisletta
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hertzog
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis