ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews, compares, and evaluates the major approaches to Cross-lagged panel analysis (CLPA). It presents the basic design for a two-variable, two-wave case in the context of a causal model. The chapter utilizes the model to discuss the major cross-lagged panel derivations and also presents these derivations in a four-fold typology. It considers the relaxation of several of the principal assumptions of the model. The chapter serves as a warning to those who would use the design based on their familiarity with any one of the principal derivations. It shows that the various approaches differ in important ways from one another and that their relative value depends upon the research context in which one is working. The chapter provides a basis for evaluating the relative utility of the CLPA derivations. The principal problem with CLPA is to take advantage of time precedence as a basis for causal analysis while avoiding erroneous inferences.