The LCAKB’s Code Repository is designed to be a “one-stop shop” to download sample code for latent class models. Many of the code examples come from projects and workshops conducted by Drs. Bethany Bray, John Dziak, and Stephanie Lanza when they were investigators at The Methodology Center at Penn State and supported in part by National Institute on Drug Abuse Center of Excellence awards from 1996-2021 (P50 DA039838 and P50 DA010075). In addition, many of the code examples come from the work of their collaborators and trainees, including those supported by the Prevention and Methodology Training Program, a National Institute on Drug Abuse Training Program (T32 DA017629).

Below you will find a list of all available models and code “snippets.” You can use the filters on the sidebar to narrow down the models for which you are looking. The LCAKB Code Repository is under active development and is currently being expanded. New models and code snippets will be published soon. Please sign up to our mailing list below to be informed of when they are published. If you would like to contribute a piece of code to help your fellow researchers, please email Dr. Bethany Bray at bcbray@latentclassanalysis.com.

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All Models

LCA: Baseline LCA with 3+ level categorical indicators

This code fits a longitudinal latent class model, using categorical indicators with 3+ levels, to identify latent classes indicated by multidimensional experiences of racism and heterosexism during the transition to adulthood among sexual minority men of color.

LCA: Latent class moderation

This code demonstrates how to use a latent class moderator to examine heterogeneity in intervention effects among adolescents receiving treatment for cannabis use. First, the code identifies latent classes of contextual and individual risk at baseline using LCA. Then, it uses an adjusted 3-step approach with BCH weights to regress the outcomes on level of care, latent class membership, the interaction between them, and covariates.

LCA: LCA with a grouping variable and without measurement variance

This code fits a 4-class, latent-class model for marijuana use and attitudes using 7 binary indicators of the latent class variable. It includes a grouping variable for year, and observations came from 3 different years. Measurement invariance across groups is not imposed resulting in an unrestricted latent class model with multiple groups.

LPA: LPA with a grouping variable without measurement invariance

Description This code fits a baseline, latent-profile model to identify and describe profiles of financial stress responses. It doesn’t impose measurement invariance across the groups. This model is similar to the model in the research paper titled “Financial stress response profiles and psychosocial functioning in low-income parents” published in Journal of Family Psychology in 2018. One key difference is that this model DOES NOT impose measurement invariance while the model in the paper DOES impose measurement invariance. The paper can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29878812/ The code for the model in the paper (i.e. with measurement invariance) can be found here....

LTA: Baseline Latent Transition Analysis with Categorical Indicators

This code fits a 4-class, latent-class model for marijuana use and attitudes using 7 binary indicators of the latent class variable. It includes a grouping variable for year, and observations came from 3 different years. Measurement invariance across groups is imposed such that analogous item-response probabilities within classes are restricted to be equal to each other across groups.

MLCA: Marginal approach with covariates at day-level and person-level

This model estimates six day-level latent classes of substance use consequences using a marginal modeling approach to account for the nested data structure. One one day-level covariate (daily positive affect) and person-level covariate (student is under legal drinking age) are included to predict consequence latent class membership.

MLCA: Non-parametric approach with covariates at the day-level and person-level

This code fits a 2-level latent-class model with covariates using a “non-parametric approach.” This model simultaneously estimates day-level classes of substance-related consequences and person-level classes that group individuals based on proportion of each type of day. This model includes covariates at each level to estimate associations with both the day-level and person-level classes.

MLCA: Non-parametric approach without covariates

This code fits a 2-level latent-class model without covariates using a “non-parametric approach.” This model simultaneously estimates day-level classes of substance-related consequences and person-level classes that group individuals based on proportion of each type of day.

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