Intra-individual patterns of time-lagged relationships among self-reports of social
support, self-concept, and physical and psychological wellbeing were investigated.
Participants were older adults (mean age = 77 years) who were measured weekly on
some scales and biweekly on others, covering a total of 25 weeks. Dynamic factor
models were fitted to multivariate repeated measures data pooled over subsets of
participants. The results indicate significant time-lagged, cross-factor
relationships showing that negative social support has both a direct effect and an
indirect effect, through less positive self-concept, on physical health measures.
For the measures of negative social support, self-concept, subjective health, and
physical performance (gait), there are substantial autoregressive effects indicating
persisting factor scores over 1 or 2 weeks. How intra-individual perspectives and
methods can facilitate the study of complex developmental processes is discussed.
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