Applications of confirmatory latent class analysis in developmental psychology

In the field of developmental, psychology researchers may have several competing theories with respect to their research subject. In this paper an approach will be proposed that can be used to select the best of these theories. It will be shown that a theory can be translated in a constrained latent class model using inequality constraints. This can be done for several (possibly competing) theories. Subsequently, fit-measures can be used to determine which model (and thus which theory) is supported most by the data. The approach will be introduced using data with respect to self-reported child and adult antisocial behaviour. It will be further illustrated using data obtained using the figural intersection task.