Multilevel Latent Class Analysis: An Application of Adolescent Smoking Typologies With Individual and Contextual Predictors

Abstract

Latent Class Analysis (LCA) is a statistical method used to identify subtypes of related cases using a set of categorical and/or continuous observed variables. Traditional LCA assumes that observations are independent. However, multilevel data structures are common in social and behavioral research and alternative strategies are needed. In this paper, a new methodology, multilevel latent class analysis (MLCA), is described and an applied example is presented. Latent classes of cigarette smoking among 10,772 European American females in 9th grade who live in one of 206 rural communities across the U.S. are considered. A parametric and non-parametric approach for estimating a MLCA are presented and both individual and contextual predictors of the smoking typologies are assessed. Both latent class and indicator-specific random effects models are explored. The best model was comprised of three Level 1 latent smoking classes (heavy smokers, moderate smokers, non-smokers), two random effects to account for variation in the probability of Level 1 latent class membership across communities, and a random factor for the indicator-specific Level 2 variances. Several covariates at the individual and contextual level were useful in predicting latent classes of cigarette smoking as well as the individual indicators of the latent class model. This paper will assist researchers in estimating similar models with their own data.Latent Class Analysis (LCA) is a statistical method used to identify subtypes of related cases using a set of categorical and/or continuous observed variables. These subtypes are referred to as latent classes. The classes are latent in that the subtypes are not directly observed; rather they are inferred from the multiple observed indicators. This method has been used to answer many interesting research questions in the behavioral sciences. For example, recent applications of LCA have assessed alcohol dependence subtypes (Moss, Chen, & Yi, 2007), peer victimization subtypes (Nylund, Bellmore, Nishina, & Graham, 2007), and gambling subtypes (Cunningham-Williams & Hong, 2007).Traditional LCA assumes that observations are independent of one another. However, in many data structures this assumption is not fulfilled. For example, observations are not independent when the data structure includes students nested in schools, children nested in families, or employees nested in companies. These nested data structures require multilevel techniques. In response to these needs, Vermunt (2003Vermunt ( , 2008 and presented a framework for assessing latent class models with nested data.Consider a Level 1 latent class solution for cigarette smoking typologies that describes three types of smokers: heavy smokers, moderate smokers, and non-smokers. If these individuals were randomly selected from the population, then a traditional, fixed effects latent class NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptStruct Equ Modeling. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 April 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-...

Tobacco Use and Suicidality: Latent Patterns of Co-occurrence Among Black Adolescents

“…While most individuals who have thoughts of ending their own life also endorse feeling sad and hopeless, some individuals may not feel sad but nonetheless engage in thoughts or behaviors of self-harm. Thus, the progression and distribution of manifestations of tobacco use and suicidality among adolescents may not occur in a quantitative fashion ranging from lower to higher extremes ( Henry & Muthen, 2010 ;Jiang et al, 2010b ). Rather, there may be qualitative differences in the behavioral profi les of both tobacco use, suicidality, and their co-occurrence , and these differences might also vary by racially classifi ed social group.…”

“…There is evidence to suggest that there are varying profi les of tobacco use with regards to initiation, age of onset, frequency of smoking (e.g., days per month), and the number of cigarettes smoked on smoking days ( Henry & Muthen, 2010 ). While individuals who smoke more frequently generally smoke more cigarettes per day on smoking days, there are some infrequent smokers who smoke very many cigarettes on the days they smoke and some daily smokers who smoke very few cigarettes per day.…”

Application of Multilevel Latent Class Analysis to Identify Achievement and Socio-Economic Typologies in the 20 Wealthiest Countries

“…The primary goal of this study was to ascertain how well each of these models could recover parameter values at level-1, as well as the quality of group classification. Henry and Muthén (2010) provide a thorough description of these models. Therefore, what follows is a condensed review of the MLCA models that were used in this study, and the interested reader is encouraged to refer to the work by Henry and Muthén. There exist a number of MLCA models that can be used with multilevel data.…”

“…Therefore, what follows is a condensed review of the MLCA models that were used in this study, and the interested reader is encouraged to refer to the work by Henry and Muthén. There exist a number of MLCA models that can be used with multilevel data. The four major versions are outlined in Henry and Muthén (2010). Finch and French (2011) conducted a simulation study comparing the relative performance of these models in terms of their ability to adequately fit the data and accurately group individuals into the appropriate latent classes.…”

Understanding Linkages Among Mixture Models

“…Our review of two common approaches for relaxing local independence in mixtures provides a foundation for understanding more advanced models, such as multivariate multilevel mixtures (e.g., Henry & Muthén, 2010;Vermunt, 2008). In such mixture models, there are similarly two options for relaxing local independence within Level 1 latent classes to account for the fact that outcome scores from persons sharing a cluster (e.g., a school) may be more similar to each other, even after accounting for Level 1 class membership.…”