Description, prediction and causation: Methodological challenges of studying child and adolescent development

Hamaker, Ellen L.; Mulder, Jeroen D.; IJzendoorn, M.H. van

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100867

Cited by 78 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…Such differences are unfortunate because they have to be statistically controlled for and reduce the power of the analyses. But in the absence of a pretest such unmeasured differences might lead to invalid conclusions [ 50 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Video-feedback promotes sensitive limit-setting in parents of twin preschoolers: a randomized controlled trial

et al. 2021

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Background Primary aim of the current randomized controlled trial was to test the effectiveness of the parenting intervention ‘Video-feedback to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline’ (VIPP-SD) in a sample of parents of preschool-aged twins, as well as differential susceptibility to intervention efforts, that is, whether more temperamentally reactive parents would profit more from the VIPP-SD than parents with lower reactivity. Methods The sample consisted of 202 families with same-sex twins [N = 404 children, mean age 45 months (SD = 6.81)]. Randomization was done at the family level in a 2:3 ratio, with 83 families (41%) randomized to the VIPP-SD group, and 119 families (59%) to the control group. After two pre-tests in year 1 and year 2 of the study, the VIPP-SD was implemented in the third year, with a post-test assessment 1 month after the five intervention sessions. Parental sensitivity was observed during structured play in which parent and child copied a drawing together in a computerized Etch-A-Sketch paradigm. Parental limit-setting was observed in a ‘don’t touch’ task in which the parent required from the child to abstain from playing with attractive toys. Parents interacted with each of their twins in separate sessions. Results The VIPP-SD intervention had a positive impact on the level of parents’ positive limit-setting in interaction with their preschool twins, and this positive effect was most pronounced when the parents completed at least five intervention sessions. However, the intervention did not enhance parental sensitivity during structured play. Parents with higher reactivity were not more open to the impact of the intervention, thus for this temperamental marker differential susceptibility in adults was not supported. Conclusions The current study is unique in targeting families with twin preschoolers, providing proof of principle that coaching parents with video-feedback promotes parental sensitive limit-setting to both children. It remains to be seen whether this finding can be replicated in families with non-twin siblings, or other parental susceptibility markers. Trial registration Trial NL5172 (NTR5312), 2015-07-20.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Video-feedback promotes sensitive limit-setting in parents of twin preschoolers: a randomized controlled trial

et al. 2021

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“… Van der Veen et al (2020) introduce a comprehensive overview of the application of rodent models in human cohorts, and highlight the added value of a controlled experiment allowing investigation of the mechanism underlying proposed relationships in human - and in particular - adolescent development. By presenting a unique comprehensive overview, the paper by Hamaker et al (2020) inspires developmental scientists to critically reflect on the consistency between proposed research goals (descriptive, predictive, and explanatory) and research design/analysis. Moreover, after analyzing this (mis)match in 100 published studies within CID, this paper introduces some interesting ‘novel’ techniques for developmental scientists to consider in future research.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaming up to understand individual development

Kemner¹,

Duijvenvoorde²,

Nelemans³

et al. 2021

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

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“…This might include simple tasks, such as quantifying the association between the level of psychological distress at baseline and the rate of premature termination from treatment, to more complex tasks such as using hundreds of variables to predict the risk of dropout during treatment. Finally, explanation focuses on understanding driving forces and casual mechanisms for certain phenomena (Hamaker, Mulder, & van IJzendoorn, 2020;Hernán, 2018;Shmueli, 2010) Scholars from different fields of research have devoted much time to clarifying the relationship between these constructs by asking questions such as: is it possible to predict what will occur in a specific situation without being able to explain the phenomenon? And, is it possible to explain a phenomenon without being able to predict it?…”

Section: Description Prediction and Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Hamaker et al (2020), there has been a tendency in the general research community to view description and prediction as subordinate motives, or merely as springboards to the higher goal of explanation. Yet, if applied in adequate ways, prediction and explanation are vital parts for scientific development.…”

Section: Description Prediction and Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such data has a natural fit for descriptive research and can for instance be used to assess the degree of correlation between therapist and patient ratings of the working alliance at a certain point in time. This type of data is, however, not the best fit for prediction or explanation purposes as these goals imply a sequential chain of events (Hamaker et al, 2020).…”

Section: The Link Between Scientific Goal and Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Looking into the Future : How to Use Advanced Statistical Methods for Predicting Psychotherapy Outcomes in Routine Care

Uckelstam

2021

Linköping Studies in Behavioural Science

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Background: Psychotherapy research has shifted from mainly focusing on the average effects of different treatments to concentrating more on questions related to the individual patient. This aligns with the goals of precision medicine and patient-focused research and might include studying predictors to forecast important patient behaviors, such as premature termination or expected change rates.When research attention shifts, it often gives rise to the implementation of new statistical methods that, in turn, can illuminate new challenges that must be addressed. For example, the fields of classical statistics and data science have merged in interesting ways in recent times, which has led to an expansion of the methodological toolbox available for psychotherapy research. However, some strengths and limitations of these new approaches should be recognized as they come from slightly different research traditions. For instance, the broader goals of scientific exploration, such as description, prediction, and explanation, might be addressed and given different importance under these approaches.Studying these matters in the context of routine care leads to specific considerations that must be reflected upon, such as how to define relevant outcomes and draw sound conclusions from observational data collected in a naturalistic setting.Aim: The aim of the thesis was to concretize these matters by contrasting how traditional methods for predicting certain psychotherapy outcomes have been studied in the past, and how more advanced statistical methods might be used to enhance knowledge of how to predict these outcomes today.Studies/Results: Three studies were performed: Paper I focused on how Multi Level Modeling (MLM) can be used to study aspects of the relationship between working alliance and treatment outcome that has been overlooked by most earlier studies. The classical way of studying this question has been by using simple correlation analysis to explore the association between patient-rated alliance and treatment outcome. However, with the help of MLM and ratings from both parties of the therapeutic dyad, it is possible to analyze how these ratings relate to each other at different levels in the data (i.e., from patient to patient within the same therapist, denoted within therapist herein, and from therapist to therapist, denoted between therapists herein). MLM also makes it possible to explore the degree of correlation between working alliance and treatment outcome when studied between compared to within therapists, which might have importance for how to direct further studies of this association.

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Description, prediction and causation: Methodological challenges of studying child and adolescent development

Cited by 78 publications

References 102 publications

Video-feedback promotes sensitive limit-setting in parents of twin preschoolers: a randomized controlled trial

Video-feedback promotes sensitive limit-setting in parents of twin preschoolers: a randomized controlled trial

Teaming up to understand individual development

Looking into the Future : How to Use Advanced Statistical Methods for Predicting Psychotherapy Outcomes in Routine Care

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