A Mixed Models Approach to the Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of Repeated Cross-Section Surveys, with an Application to Data on Trends in Verbal Test Scores

We develop a mixed (fixed and random effects) models approach to the age-period-cohort (APC) analysis of micro data sets in the form of a series of the repeated cross-section sample surveys that are increasingly available to sociologists. This approach recognizes the multilevel structure of the indi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSociological methodology Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 75 - 97
Main Authors Yang, Yang, Land, Kenneth C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01.01.2006
SAGE Publications
Blackwell Publishing Inc
American Sociological Association
Subjects
Academic achievement
Age
Age groups
Aging
Changes
Coefficients
Cohort Analysis
Cohort effect
Debates
Education
Methodology
Modeling
Multilevel models
New Methods for Specific Situations: Cohort Models, Exponential Graphs, Event Histories, Cluster Studies and Logit Analyses
Parameter estimation
Polls & surveys
Random effects
Regression analysis
Research methods
Social research
Social surveys
Sociological research
Sociology
Statistical variance
Studies
Surveys
Tests
Trends
Verbal Communication
Verbal tests
Vocabulary development
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Summary:We develop a mixed (fixed and random effects) models approach to the age-period-cohort (APC) analysis of micro data sets in the form of a series of the repeated cross-section sample surveys that are increasingly available to sociologists. This approach recognizes the multilevel structure of the individual-level responses. As a substantive illustration, we apply our proposed methodology to data on verbal test scores from 15 cross-sections of the General Social Survey, 1974-2000. These data have been the subject of recent debates in the sociological literature. We show how our approach can be used to shed new light on these debates by identifying and estimating age, period, and cohort components of change.
Bibliography:Revision of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 16–19, 2003, Atlanta, Georgia. We thank Robert O'Brien and anonymous reviewers for comments. The research reported herein was supported in part by NIH/NIA Grant Numbers R01AG07198, P30AG12852, and K07AG00892. Direct correspondence to Yang Yang, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637; e‐mail
yangy@uchicago.edu
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ISSN:0081-1750
1467-9531
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9531.2006.00175.x