Assessing longitudinal change in marriage: an introduction to the analysis of growth curves

Analysis of individual growth curves is a useful technique in analyzing longitudinal data in marital research. This method assesses individual change over time, or growth curves, using multiple waves of data. Approaches currently in use generate incomplete and potentially inaccurate descriptions of how marriages change since they use only two waves of data at a time. A step-by-step guide to the technique is presented.