Volume 36, Number 3 (Summer) 2001
Davey, Adam, Michael J. Shanahan, and Joseph L. Schafer. 2001. "Correcting for Selective Nonresponse in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Using Multiple Imputation." Journal of Human Resources 36(3):500-519.
Survey attrition and nonresponse, particularly when selective, present unique challenges to researchers interested in studying developmental processes and longitudinal change. Four distinct patterns of nonresponse on children's psychological adjustment and lifetime poverty experiences and family histories are identified using principal components analysis. In turn, membership in these four groups is significantly predicted by the child's demographic characteristics, family experiences, and previous values on adjustment variables, indicating selective nonresponse and raising the possibility of biased estimates based on listwise deletion of missing data. We then examine a set of latent growth curve models that interrelate children's family experiences and psychological adjustment using listwise deletion (LD) and multiple imputation (MI) procedures. Implications for treatment of nonresponse in national longitudinal surveys are discussed.
Adam Davey is a professor of child and family development at the University of Georgia. Michael J. Shanahan is an associate professor of human development and an adjunct professor of sociology at the Pennsylvania State University, as well as a research affiliate at the Population Research Institute. Joseph L. Schafer is an associate professor of statistics at the Pennsylvania State University. Data from this article can be obtained from the authors from October 2002 through September 2005.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X