Enumeration Index Performance in Generalized Growth Mixture Models: A Monte Carlo Test of Muthén’s (2003) Hypothesis

Abstract

Relatively few empirical studies have examined the performance of enumeration indices in correctly identifying longitudinal population heterogeneity when present, and these studies have produced mixed results. In light of these findings, Muthén (2003) suggested that the inclusion of time-invariant (antecedent) and time-varying (concurrent) covariates, as well as allowing the extracted growth mixture classes to predict a distal outcome (consequent covariate), could improve the performance of enumeration indices. This Monte Carlo simulation study examined the performance of a large set of enumeration indices within these generalized growth mixture model (GGMM) conditions, as suggested by Muthén, by manipulating 4 design conditions: (a) sample size, (b) separation distance between adjacent latent growth trajectories, (c) growth trajectory membership proportions, and (d) the amount of mixture model variance explained by the covariates. The findings suggest: (a) at smaller (N = 500) sample sizes, enumeration indices were much more likely to select an incorrect model than the correct one, (b) at larger (N = 3,000) sample sizes, correct model identification occurred only in the largest separation distance and trajectory membership equality conditions, and (c) the inclusion of covariates had a negligible effect at smaller sample sizes, but covariate inclusion had a more favorable effect on data generation model identification in the largest sample size, largest trajectory separation distance, and equal trajectory membership proportions conditions. Suggestions for researchers and future empirical study possibilities are discussed.