Application of Associative Discrete-Time Survival Analysis Using Latent Transition Specification

This article demonstrates an associative latent transition-based model for analyzing the association between two discrete-time survival analysis (DTSA) models. DTSA allows social and behavioral researchers to investigate the qualitative change in event occurrence. Typically, DTSA is applied to a single survival process, where the hazard of an event occurrence is estimated across time. However, when researchers have hypotheses concerning the relationship between two survival processes, DTSA needs to be extended to associative DTSA. The study describes the latent transition based DTSA and its extension to explore the association between two event occurrences. M + software is used to illustrate the model parameterizations that are applicable to social and behavioral research topics. The illustrations use data related to juvenile delinquent and criminal behaviors. We close with a discussion of the capabilities of latent transition based DTSA.