Hierarchical Linear Modeling Model Research Articles

Impact of immigrant-related stress on mental health among Mexican-origin families: Implications for a shifting and complex immigration climate.

Latinx immigrant families may face stressful experiences premigration, en route to the host country, and once they arrive in the host country (postmigration). The present study examines the impact of premigration stress and postmigration stress (together defined as immigrant-related stress) on the mental health of Mexican-origin parents and their children using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methodology. Data collection across four timepoints occurred from 2013 to 2018. At Time 1, 104 families were enrolled in the study and met the following criteria: (1) At least one Mexican-origin immigrant parent; (2) One child between the ages of 6-10 years; and (3) Family income at or below 150% of the federal poverty line. Hierarchical multiple regression and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) were used to analyze the cross-sectional and longitudinal data, respectively. HLM models revealed that higher postmigration stress over time (2013-2018) was related to higher mental health problems among parents and children. Higher premigration stress was associated with higher parent-reported child mental health problems, while postmigration stress was associated with higher parent mental health problems. Specifically, discrimination emerged as a salient factor of poor parent mental health. Immigrant-related stress was related to higher total parent and child mental health problems. This study demonstrates the strong impact of postmigration stress on mental health over the span of several years and during a time of heightened stress for many Mexican immigrant communities. The results inform the need for family-wide interventions that address the complexities of immigrant-related stress as well as comprehensive policy changes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Physician Induced Demand: The Empirical Evidence of Angiography for Suspected Coronary Artery Disease.

We aimed to investigate the existence of unnecessary demand for angiography and the factors affecting it to provide evidence for decision makers. This longitudinal panel study was conducted in public hospitals in Tehran, Iran by using 2458 patients' records that were undergoing angiography for suspected coronary artery disease 2013-2015. To modeling the physicians' behavior based on physician-induced demand (PID), the patients were classified as appropriate, uncertain, and inappropriate and then Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) model besides the physician ethic index was developed and finally the existence of PID showed based on three scenarios. Angiographies were performed inappropriately in 23.8% of 2458 patients as well 46.7% were uncertain, and 29.5% were appropriate. According to the HLM model, the physician-to-population ratio (δ0= -0.161) and the interaction variable coefficient are higher than zero and significant (δ1 = 253). The results of the physician ethic index showed that most physicians were at a moderate rate, meaning that their utility was a combination of both pecuniary and non-pecuniary profits (0 < | ɛpδ |<1). Considering the HLM model and the medical ethics index together has almost shown the condition of PID (the necessary condition δ1> 0 and the sufficient condition (1 ≤ |ɛpδ|)) existed for about 26% of all studied physicians who had pure profit maximizer. To reduce induced demand and improve medical ethics adherence in cardiologist, policy makers should develop native guidelines, rules, and instructions besides policies related to education, and increasing patients' awareness.

Impact of inter-provincial power resource allocation on enterprise production behavior from a multi-scale correlation perspective

The endowment of production factors is an important factor that restricts the choice of enterprise operation strategy, further affecting the regional industrial structure and the quality of economic development. Due to the fact of the divided power market and the administrative system with a spatial nesting structure in China, the power resource allocation policies have an important and heterogeneous impact on enterprise production behavior. Therefore, this study systematically explores the cross-level influence mechanism of regional power resource allocation on enterprise production efficiency, power efficiency, and location transfer with a hierarchical linear model (HLM) and the large sample data of 239,483 power-consuming enterprises in China's manufacturing industry from 2008 to 2015. The results indicate that: (1) There are nested relationships between the data and the HLM model is reasonable. That is, the enterprise production behavior under different provincial government management is heterogeneous. (2) The power resource allocation plays an important role in the choice of enterprise production behavior. Specifically, the increase of power resource allocation deepens the negative impact of enterprise factor substitution on enterprise production efficiency, weakens the positive impact of enterprise R&D intensity on enterprise power efficiency, and has a direct positive effect on enterprise location transfer. The above findings improve the research chain of economic consequences of resource allocation, deepen the understanding of the specific impact mechanism of energy policies on enterprise behavior, and provide a decision-making reference for the government to optimize the power supply structure and power grid layout.

Life-Events Mediate the Prediction of Parental Alienation on Depression in Rural Left-Behind Children: A Longitudinal Study.

ObjectivesLong-time separation with parents during early life, such as left-behind children (LBC, one or both of whose parents are leaving for work for at least a period of 6 months), may contribute to high alienation toward parents and endanger their mental health (e.g., depression). However, the dynamic status of depression and potential prediction of alienation on depression in LBC remained largely unknown. This study aimed to examine the dynamic status of depression, prediction of alienation toward parents on later depression in rural LBC, and a potential mediation of life-events.MethodsA total of 877 LBC in rural areas of China were recruited and surveyed at five time-points (baseline, T0: 1-month, T1: 3-months, T2: 6-months, T3: 12-months, T4) with the Inventory of Alienation Toward Parents, Childhood Depression Inventory, and Adolescent Self-Rating Life-Events Checklist. The Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) and Hayes's PROCESS macro model were conducted to estimate the developmental trend and hierarchical predictors of depression.ResultsThe left-behind children aged 9-years old experienced higher depression than the children with other ages. At baseline, the children in the family atmosphere of frequent quarrels and compulsive parenting style reported a higher level of alienation toward parents, life-events, and depression. Alienation toward parents, life-events, and depression were positively and moderately correlated with each other (r = 0.14 ~ 0.64). The HLM model depicted a linear decline in depression, alienation, and life-events with an average rate of 0.23, 0.24, and 0.86, respectively, during the five time-points. Also, T0 alienation toward parents and T0 life-events positively predicted the developmental trajectory of depression over time, and T0 life-events positively predicted the descendant rate of depression. Notably, life-events mediated the prediction of baseline alienation toward parents on T4 depression in LBC.ConclusionThis study is among the first to reveal that alienation toward parents predicts the developmental trajectory of later depression in LBC. The findings that life-events mediate the prediction of alienation on later depression further suggest the importance of family and social factors in the occurrence of depression in LBC. The findings warrant the necessity to consider the family and social factors when evaluating and reducing risks for mental health problems in LBC, i.e., relationship with parents (especially alienation toward parents) and life-events need further attention.

Designing satisfying service encounters: website versus store touchpoints.

This study investigated how touchpoints moderate the antecedents of customer satisfaction with service encounters by comparing online and in-store encounters. Construal level theory was used within the Touchpoint, Context, Qualities (TCQ) Framework (De Keyser et al., 2020) to integrate a comprehensive model of how touchpoints—websites or stores—influence the magnitude of customer responses to qualities of service encounters. A hierarchical linear model (HLM) was estimated using survey data describing the service encounters of 2.4 million customers with a global retailer. Online customers weighed cognitive and behavioral qualities more heavily than in-store customers, whereas they weighed emotional and sensorial qualities less heavily. Moreover, random effects in the HLM model indicated that each country and store would have unique clientele effects for specific qualities. Since each firm has limited resources, this research offers guidance on key qualities in designing satisfying service encounters for each touchpoint and how qualities should be standardized and customized in global omnichannel environments.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11747-021-00808-9.

Why Can Green Social Responsibility Drive Agricultural Technology Manufacturing Company to Do Good Things? A Novel Adoption Model of Environmental Strategy

The present research proposes the hierarchical linear modeling model (HLM) that describe how green social responsibility (GSR) predict the environmental strategy (ES) of agricultural technology manufacturing companies by the intermediary effects of the supervisor’s green promise (GP) based on symbolic context theory. This study collected data with 150 supervisors from 50 different agricultural technology companies in Taiwan to analyze the HLM. The results suggest that vendors of agricultural technology companies should establish GSR to increase GP, which consequently can increase the companies’ adoption of the ES. It is now the first to establish a milestone, propose a novel adoption model—GP and its antecedents through the HLM to predict the adoption of ES. These findings can upgrade the related literature of agriculture and can provide the procedure in implementing ES in agricultural technology companies.

A Partial Simulation Study of Phantom Effects in Multilevel Analysis of School Effects: The Case of School Socioeconomic Composition

Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is often used to estimate the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on academic achievement at different levels of an educational system. However, if a prior academic achievement measure is missing in a HLM model, biased estimates may occur on the effects of student SES and school SES. Phantom effects describe the phenomenon in which the effects of student SES and school SES disappear once prior academic achievement is added to the model. In the present analysis, partial simulation (i.e., simulated data are used together with real-world data) was employed to examine the phantom effects of student SES and school SES on science achievement, using the national sample of the United States from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment. The results showed that the phantom effects of student SES and school SES are rather real. The stronger the correlation between prior science achievement and (present) science achievement, the greater the chance that the phantom effects occur.

Visit Frequency and Outcomes for Patients Using Ongoing Chiropractic Care for Chronic Low-Back and Neck Pain: An Observational Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND: Chronic spinal pain is prevalent and long-lasting. Although provider-based nonpharmacologic therapies, such as chiropractic care, have been recommended, healthcare and coverage policies provide little guidance or evidence regarding long-term use of this care. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationships between visit frequency and outcomes for patients using ongoing chiropractic care for chronic spinal pain. STUDY DESIGN: Observational 3-month longitudinal study. SETTING: Data collected from patients of 124 chiropractic clinics in 6 United States regions. METHODS: We examined the impact of visit frequency and patient characteristics on pain (pain 0-10 numeric rating scale) and functional outcomes (Oswestry Disability Index [ODI] for low-back pain and Neck Disability Index [NDI] for neck pain, both 0-100 scale) using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) in a large national sample of chiropractic patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and/or chronic neck pain (CNP). This study was approved by the RAND Human Subjects Protection Committee and registered under ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03162952. RESULTS: One thousand, three hundred, sixty-two patients with CLBP and 1,214 with CNP were included in a series of HLM models. Unconditional (time-only) models showed patients on average had mild pain and function, and significant, but slight improvements in these over the 3-month observation period: back and neck pain decreased by 0.40 and 0.44 points, respectively; function improved by 2.7 (ODI) and 3.0 points (NDI) (all P &lt; 0.001). Adding chiropractic visit frequency to the models revealed that those with worse baseline pain and function used more visits, but only visits more than once per week for those with CLBP were associated with significantly better improvement. These relationships remained when other types of visits and baseline patient characteristics were included. LIMITATIONS: This is an observational study based on self-reported data from a sample representative of chiropractic patients, but not all patients with CLBP or CNP. CONCLUSIONS: This 3-month window on chiropractic patients with CLBP and/or CNP revealed that they were improving, although slowly; may have reached maximum therapeutic improvement; and are possibly successfully managing their chronic pain using a variety of chiropractic visit frequencies. These results may inform payers when building coverage policies for ongoing chiropractic care for patients with chronic pain. KEY WORDS: Chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain, spinal pain, physical function, hierarchical linear modeling, healthcare utilization, chiropractic visits, insurance coverage

Factors Associated With Health Service Use Among Older Adults in a Mobile Veterans Program.

The current retrospective, longitudinal study applied Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use to examine how demographic characteristics (age), available resources (e.g., a caregiver, the Mobile Veterans Program [MVP]) and health needs (e.g., cognitive and physical functioning, depressive symptoms) affect hospitalization and institutionalization outcomes among older adults using the MVP. Fifty-four Veterans (age 55 to 95) participating in the MVP for up to 2 years were examined using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and growth curve model. In the final HLM model, each 1-point increase in depressive symptoms was associated with 76% (p ≤ 0.05) greater risk of institutionalization and 40% (p ≤ 0.01) greater risk of hospitalization. Each 1-point increase in cognitive functioning was associated with 24% (p ≤ 0.05) lower risk of institutionalization. The relationship between caregiver burden and hospitalization was attenuated by frequency of MVP visits. Services focused on reducing depressive symptoms may influence health service use and reduce caregiver burden in this population. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 46(5), 15-22.].

The Effects of Student and School Level Characteristics on Academic Achievement of Middle School Students in Turkey

The purpose of the study was to examine the student-level and school-level variability that affect middle school students’ academic achievement. Student background and school context on student academic achievement were examined. Participants of the study consisted of 1053 seventh and eighth grade middle school students from 10 schools in the cities of Ankara and Sinop, Turkey. The research study analysed using two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Data were analysed with three HLM models: (1) random effects one-way ANOVA model, (2) random coefficients regression model, (3) intercepts and slopes-as outcomes model. The results of the analyses showed that at the student level, gender, SES, and number of siblings were found to have statistically significant effects on student GPA. When considering the practical importance of student level variables, SES, and number of siblings have small effects, but gender has a moderate effect on students’ school achievements. On average, female students perform higher than male students in terms of their GPA scores. At the school level, educational school resources have a significant effect on predicting academic achievement. It has been shown that school resources have a moderate effect on students’ academic achievements.

Multilevel analysis of the relationship between school-level variables and student achievement

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between student achievement and a set of school-level variables, including distributed leadership, academic optimism, teacher collaboration and enabling school structure. The study was designed as correlational research. A Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analysis was conducted with a data set collected from 23,053 students and 426 teachers from 40 randomly selected public schools in Turkey. The data were collected using previously developed scales and student achievement data from the Ministry of National Education. HLM results revealed that two dimensions of academic optimism – namely collective efficacy and trust in clients – and hindering bureaucracy significantly predicted between-school differences in student achievement. The tested HLM model explained 60% of the variation in student achievement across schools. The results revealed that student achievement is shaped by school-level variables that are tied to the structural and functional characteristics of schools in Turkey. However, these school characteristics are rooted in the societal structures and cultural characteristics of the country. Hence, it is concluded that a reinterpretation of common school-level variables used to predict student achievement in the contexts of different countries is necessary.

2288 - Intercity Transportation's Role in Affecting Distal Area's Urbanization/Green Coverage – a High-Speed Rail's Case in Urban Land Teleconnections

Background The urban land teleconnections’ (ULT) research is emerging largely due to more local urbanization being attributable to distal land demand. The knowledge on ULT and how ULT is driven by transportation is significant because urban growth or shrinkage, and green coverage probably sets the city's foundation of natural, healthy living settings. However, transportation's role in driving ULT is barely studied. This study aims to contribute to the theoretical role of intercity transportation in the ULT arena, and to explore empirically the spatial pattern of high-speed rail (HSR) trips, as well as to probe HSR's impact on ULT. Methods The 2007 inaugurated Taiwan HSR (THSR) is selected for this study. The data sources include the THSR ticket database, a THSR passenger survey, the employment and population databases, and the United States Geological Survey/USGS's free 30-meter resolution Landsat satellite images. The primary analysis tools include descriptive statistics, spatial analysis, and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Results Theoretically, the intercity transportation may play as a necessity factor in driving ULT; while the local attractiveness factors play the sufficiency roles. The ULT land is used for producing products or services for distant needs, for which transportation is required to ship inbound remote passengers or companies and outbound products and services, which are materialized as trips. Hence, traffic data have the potential to depict teleconnection. Furthermore, different trips/activities likely affect land consumption differently, and different intercity transportation modes likely affect distal land consumption differently. The preliminary empirical analysis on the green land coverage shows that ULT phenomenon seems existing in Taiwan based on the mismatched spatial distributions of incremental population and the loss of green coverage between 2006-11. This finding could be the joint result of the tourism attraction of the Eastern counties and the elevated accessibility to tourists/population due to the new intercity transportation infrastructure. A two-level green coverage HLM model shows that at the regional level, the increased employment accessibility brought by the THSR for a town/district is statistically significant (p=0.05) in reducing its green coverage. At the local level, the closer a town/district is to an HSR station; the higher its green coverage is reduced. Conclusions The preliminary policy implications include precautious planning for potential increasing land demand from distant areas and the reduction in green coverage and collecting taxes from the distant land demand consumers to cope for these impacts of the tele-connected land demand.

Epilepsy and its Impact on psychosocial outcomes in Canadian children: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY)

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to use data from a population-based survey to evaluate the association between childhood epilepsy and social outcomes through tests of mathematics skills, and sense of general self-esteem (GSS). MethodsUsing data from Cycles 1 to 8 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to compare baseline math scores and changes in math scores and sense of general self esteem (GSS) over time in children with and without epilepsy. Scores of Health Utility Index (HUI) were factored into the analysis. ResultsChildren with epilepsy do not significantly differ in their scaled math scores in comparison to their peers without epilepsy, at age 12; however, in the two level HLM model the children with epilepsy lagged behind the healthy comparison group in terms of their growth in acquiring knowledge in mathematics. Additionally, when children with epilepsy carry an added health impairment as measured by an imperfect health utility (HUI) score the group shows a slower rate of growth in their math scores over time. Self-esteem measures show variable effects in children with epilepsy alone, and those with added health impairments. The interaction with HUI scores shows a significant negative effect on self-esteem, when epilepsy is associated with added health impairment. ConclusionThe findings suggest that the population of Canadian children surveyed with epilepsy are vulnerable to poorer academic outcomes in mathematics in later years, and this problem is compounded further with the presence of other additional health impairments.

COMMENT: IS RACE REALLY SO FLUID? REVISITING SAPERSTEIN AND PENNER'S EMPIRICAL CLAIMS.

COMMENT: IS RACE REALLY SO FLUID? REVISITING SAPERSTEIN AND PENNER'S EMPIRICAL CLAIMS.

Activity mediates conscientiousness' relationship to diurnal cortisol slope in a national sample.

The present study explored pathways from the personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness through health-related behaviors to diurnal patterns of the stress hormone cortisol using data from a large national study. Using prospective data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS II) study and the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE II, a MIDUS substudy), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and Monte Carlo estimation for multilevel model mediation were used to test direct and indirect effects (via general activity level, moderate and vigorous physical activity, lifetime history of regular smoking, and alcohol consumption) of neuroticism and conscientiousness on cortisol at wakeup, diurnal cortisol slope, and cortisol awakening response (N = 960). Initial HLM models showed greater levels of conscientiousness were associated with steeper (i.e., healthier) diurnal cortisol slope. Consistent with a hypothesized indirect biobehavioral pathway, when controlling for demographic factors, cortisol-related medications, daily stressors, and positive affect, HLM models showed the relationship between conscientiousness and diurnal cortisol slope was mediated by general activity levels. Lifetime history of smoking was associated with flatter diurnal cortisol slope, but did not mediate the effect of conscientiousness on diurnal cortisol slope. No effects were found for neuroticism. The results support a psychophysiological model of resilience--one that provides a more complete rendering of the health-protective mechanisms of conscientiousness via hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Specifically, the mediated pathway suggests greater engagement in the activities of day-to-day life are an instrumental means by which conscientious individuals experience healthier patterns of stress hormone secretion.

Structural interrelationships of group service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention for bus passengers

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the interrelationships of group-level service quality (GSQ), customer satisfaction (CS), and behavioral intentions (BI) for bus passengers in Taiwan through a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) technique. Using the data in 1401 questionnaires collected from 35 jurisdictions in Taiwan, the results show that the proposed HLM model has a high degree of goodness of fit. In addition, both GSQ and CS can positively influence the bus passengers' BI. While CS mediates the effects of GSQ on BI, the positive influence of CS on BI can be negatively moderated by GSQ, i.e., moderated mediation effect. Discussion and suggestions are given in the end; the results have implications for allocating limited resources among different jurisdictions in Taiwan, i.e., retaining existing and possibly increasing new bus passengers.

Profile of high-performing college soccer teams: An exploratory multi-level analysis

ObjectiveTo determine the profile of high-performing college soccer teams through the use of exploratory hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) based on a socio-cognitive approach. DesignA correlational design was employed in this study. The sample consisted of 340 college soccer players of both genders (178 female and 162 male), representing 17 different teams (8 female and 9 male) ranked in the top-32 of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). MethodsNumerous demographic and soccer-related variables represented level-1 in the HLM model. Group Environment Questionnaire and Team Assessment Diagnostic Measure were entered as level-2 variables, representing cohesion and team mental models, respectively. Perceived performance potential (PPP) served as the dependent variable. Objective performance scores were correlated with PPP, attesting a moderate to high-level of criterion related validity (r = .78). ResultsThe final model suggested that: (a) International athletes perceive their performance lower than others, (b) different field positions share different covariance coefficients with PPP, and (c) perception of social cohesion from a group, rather than individual, standpoint is positively associated with perceptions of team performance. ConclusionsHigh performing teams have clearly defined task-related and team-related goals. Accordingly, social rather than task related factors may represent a competitive edge, further energizing the interactions and performance of top-ranked teams. International athletes perceive team performance lower than locals, perhaps due to differences in preferred game-style and acculturation experiences. Players from different field positions (i.e., goalkeepers, defensive, and offensive players) relate differently to team performance in college soccer.

How much does region affect performance?

Purpose – The importance of regional strategy as a separate paradigm in the international business literature has grown in recent years, and the initial connections between regionalization and firm performance appear promising. What is lacking, however, is an empirical analysis quantifying the impact of regional effects on firm profitability. This topic is an important one for the field of international business, as drivers of firm profitability are some of the key motivators of research in international strategy. The aim of this paper is to empirically quantify the role of regional effects on the performance of service firms in a manner such that regional effects can be directly compared with country and firm effects on firm profitability. Design/methodology/approach – Using a hierarchical linear model (HLM) with four levels, the proportion of variation driven by regional effects is estimated. These estimates are obtained from a data panel of 48,083 units from 7,129 service firms across the three triad regions (North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific) over a ten-year time-frame (1999-2008). Findings – It was found that regional effects, in terms of relative importance, explain approximately 9 percent of the variance in firm performance. This pattern of results is consistent when the analysis was conducted during periods of increasing or decreasing profits, firm type, and ownership structure. Originality/value – Within the context of international business, work on regional strategy/regionalization has emerged as a separate stream of literature. This study is one of the first to quantify the influence of regional effects on performance using a 4-level HLM model. Additionally, this paper demonstrates the application of a 4-level model, potentially increasing awareness of this technique and usage in other multilevel topics in the IB literature, which offers several avenues for future research.

HLM Behind the Curtain: Unveiling Decisions Behind the Use and Interpretation of HLM in Higher Education Research

Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) has become increasingly popular in the higher education literature, but there is significant variability in the current approaches to the conducting and reporting of HLM. The field currently lacks a general consensus around important issues such as the number of levels of analysis that are important to include and how much variance should be accounted for at each level in order for the HLM analysis to have practical significance (Dedrick et al., Rev Educ Res 79:69–102, 2009). The purpose of this research is to explore the use of a 3-level HLM model, appropriate contextualizing of results of HLM, and the interpretation of HLM results that resonates with practice. We used an example of a 3-level model from the National Study of Living Learning Programs to highlight the practical issues that arise in the interpretation of HLM within a higher education context.

Using hierarchical linear models to test differences in Swedish results from OECD’s PISA 2003: Integrated and subject-specific science education

The possible effects of different organisations of the science curriculum in schools participating in PISA 2003 are tested with a hierarchical linear model (HLM) of two levels. The analysis is based on science results. Swedish schools are free to choose how they organise the science curriculum. They may choose to work subject-specifically (with Biology, Chemistry and Physics), integrated (with Science) or to mix these two. In this study, all three ways of organising science classes in compulsory school are present to some degree. None of the different ways of organising science education displayed statistically significant better student results in scientific literacy as measured in PISA 2003. The HLM model used variables of gender, country of birth, home language, preschool attendance, an economic, social and cultural index as well as the teaching organisation.