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Stephen West (Psychology)

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Psychology
Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Affiliate Faculty, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict
Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 1104
Biography

Stephen G. West is professor of psychology at Arizona State University. He is past editor of the Journal of Personality, Psychological Methods, and Multivariate Behavioral Research. He currently serves as associate editor of Multivariate Behavioral Research and on the editorial boards of several methodological and substantive journals. He has held regular or visiting faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Florida State University, University of Texas at Austin, Duke University, and UCLA in the United States, and Universität Kiel, Universität Heidelberg, and Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.

West has received multiple awards, including the ASU Graduate School’s outstanding graduate mentor award, Division 5’s (Evaluation, Statistics, and Methods) Jacob Cohen award for outstanding teaching, and the Board of Educational Affairs’ Outstanding Graduate Teaching of Psychology as a core STEM Discipline Award from the American Psychological Association (APA). He has received Division 8’s (Personality and Social Psychology) Henry Murray award for lifetime contributions to the study of lives and Division 5’s Samuel Messick Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award for scientific contributions within the field of quantitative research methods from the APA, the Saul Sells award for distinguished multivariate research from the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology, and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Forschungspreis for lifetime contributions to research methods.

His methodological work is in causal inference, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, multiple regression, structural equation modeling, and longitudinal data analysis. His substantive research is in the areas of personality and in prevention-related issues in health, mental health, and education. He is co-author of over 150 articles, 30 chapters, and 13 books and edited volumes. He is most proud of the many graduate students with whom he has worked who have gone on to careers at major research universities, some of whom have received awards for their early career contributions.

CV
Binary Data Curriculum Vitae
Education

Ph.D. University of Texas-Austin 1972

Research Interests

Quantitative: field research methods, structural equation modeling, multiple regression analysis, mediational analysis, graphics and exploratory data analysis, longitudinal data analysis.
Social: personality research, applied social, prevention-related issues in health, mental health.

Research Projects

LISREL Input Script for the analyses reported in Chen, F., Sousa, K.H., & West, S.G. (in press).
Testing measurement invariance of a second-order factor model: An illustration using a measure of quality of life, Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal.

Publications
  • *Wu, W., & West, S. G. Sensitivity of SEM fit indices to misspecifications in growth curve models: A simulation study. Multivariate Behavioral Research (2010).
  • *Wu, W., West, S. G., & Hughes, J. N. Effect of grade retention in first grade on psychosocial outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102,135-152 (2010).
  • Kwok, O.-M., **Luo, W., & West, S. G. Using modification indices to detect turning points in longitudinal data: A Monte Carlo study. Structural Equation Modeling (2010).
  • West, S. G., & *Thoemmes, F. Campbell’s and Rubin’s perspectives on causal inference. Psychological Methods (2010).
  • West, S.G., *Thoemmes, F., & *Wu, W. Book Review. Neils J. Blunch, "Introduction to structural equation modeling: using SPSS and AMOS.". Applied Psychological Measurement (2010).
  • Kumanyika, chair, Parker, & Sim (Eds.). Abrams, Brownson, Chaloupka, Chatterje, Dennison, Economos, Gortmaker, Green, Hiatt, Purcell, Sege, Sox, Valadez, Van de Putte, West. Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention: A Framework to Inform Decision Making. (2010).
  • Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Millsap, R. E. Improving training in methodology enriches the science of psychology. American Psychologist (2009).
  • Bushman, B. J., Baumester, R. F., Thomaes, S., Ryu, E., Begeer, S., & West, S. G. Looking again, and harder, for a link between low self-esteem and aggression. Journal of Personality, (2009).
  • Coxe, S., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2009). The analysis of count data: A gentle introduction to Poisson regression and its alternatives. Journal of Personality Assessment (2009).
  • Harvey, S. M., Kraft, J. M., West, S. G., Taylor, A. B., Pappas-DeLuca, K., Beckman, L. J., & Huszti, H. C. Effects of a health behavior change model-based HIV/STI prevention intervention on condom use among heterosexual couples: A randomized trial. Health Education and Behavior (2009).
  • Ryu, E., & West, S. G. Level-specific evaluation of model fit in multilevel structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling (2009).
  • Ryu, E., West, S. G., & Sousa, K. H. Mediation and moderation: Testing relationships between symptom status, functional health, and quality of life in HIV patients. Multivariate Behavioral Research (2009).
  • Thoemmes, F., West, S.G., & Hill, E. Propensity score matching in a meta-analysis comparing randomized and non-randomized studies (abstract). Mulivariate Behavioral Research (2009).
  • Tofighi, D., MacKinnon, D. P., & West, S. G. A general method to derive covariances between parameter estimates in mediation models (abstract). Multivariate Behavioral Research (2009).
  • West, S. G. Alternatives to randomized experiments. Current Directions in Psychology (2009).
  • Wu, W., West, S. G., & Taylor, A. B. Growth Curve Modeling: Evaluating model fit and model selection. Psychological Methods (2009).
  • Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Millsap, R. E. Doctoral training in statistics, research methods, and measurement in psychology: Replication and extension of the Aiken et al. (1990) survey of Ph.D. programs in North America. American Psychologist (2008).
  • Chen, F.F., & West, S. G. Measuring individualism and collectivism: The importance of considering differential components, reference groups, and measurement invariance. Journal of Research in personality (2008).
  • Talboom, J. S., Williams, B. J., Baxley, E. R., West, S. G., & Biemonte-Nelson, H. A. Higher levels of estradiol replacement correlate with better spatial memory in surgically menopausal young and middle-aged rats. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (2008).
  • West, S. G., & Thoemmes, F. Towards minimizing bias in effect estimates in observational studies: Two empirical examples (Abstract). International Journal of Psychology (2008).
  • West, S. G., & Wu, W. Evaluating fit in growth models for longitudinal data: Insights from SEM and HLM (Abstract). International Journal of Psychology (2008).
  • West, S.G, Duan, N., Pequegnat, W., Gaist, P., DesJarlais, D., Holtgrave, D., Szapocznik, J., Fishbein, M., Rapkin, B., Clatts, M., & Mullen, P. Alternatives to the randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Public Health (2008).
  • Wu, W., West, S. G., & Hughes, J. N. Short-term effects of grade retention on the growth rate of Woodcock-Johnson III broad math and reading scores. Journal of School Psychology (2008).
  • Wu, W., West, S. G., & Hughes, J. N. Effect of retention in first grade on children’s achievement trajectories over four years: A piecewise growth analysis using propensity score matching. Journal of Educational Psychology (2008).
  • Eisenberg, N., Ma, Y., Chang, L., Zhou, Q., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. Relations of effortful control, reactive undercontrol, and anger to Chinese children's adjustment. Development and Psychopathology (2007).
  • J Biesanz, Stephen West, A Millevoi. What you you learn about someone over time? The relationship between length of acquaintance and consensus and self-other agreement in judgments of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2007).
  • West, Stephen G,Aiken, Leona S,Wu*, Wei,Taylor*, *Aaron B. . Handbook of research methods in personality psychology (2007).
  • A Taylor, Stephen West, L Aiken. Loss of power in logistic, ordinal logistic, and probit regression when an outcome is coarsely categorized. Educational and Psychological Measurement (2006).
  • F Chen, Stephen West, K Sousa. A comparison of the bifactor and second-order models of quality of life. Multivariate Behavioral Research (2006).
  • Khoo, S.-T., West, S. G., Wu, W., & Kwok, O.-M. Longitudinal methods. Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology (2006).
  • West, Stephen G (Author) . Seeing your data: Using modern statistical graphics to display and detect relationships. Strengthening Research Methodology: Psychological Measurement and Evaluation (2006).
  • Aiken, L S, West, Stephen G. Interaction effects. Encyclopedia of statistics in the behavioral sciences (2005).
  • West, Stephen G, Aiken, L S. Multiple Regression. Encyclopedia of statistics in the behavioral sciences (2005).
  • F Chen, K Sousa, Stephen West. Testing measurement invariance of second-order factor models. Structural Equation Modeling (2005).
  • A Bryan, L Aiken, Stephen West. HIV/STD risk among incarcerated adolescents: Optimism about the future and self-esteem as predictors of condom-use self-efficacy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology (2004).
  • J Biesanz, Stephen West. Towards understanding assessments of the Big Five: Multitrait-multimethod analyses of covergent and discriminat validity across measurement occasion and type of observer. Journal of Personality (2004).
  • M Gerend, L Aiken, Stephen West, M Erchull. Beyond medical risk: Investigating the psychological factors underlying women's perceptions of susceptibility to breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Health Psychology (2004).
  • M Gerend, Leona Aiken, Stephen West. Personality factors in older women's perceived susceptibility to diseases of aging. Journal of Personality (2004).
  • J Biesanz, Stephen West, O Kwok. Personality over time: Methodological approaches to the study of short-term and long-term development and change. Journal of Personality (2003).
  • Stephen West. Towards finding the person in the data of personality. Journal of Personality (2003).
  • Cohen, J, Cohen, P, West, Stephen G, Aiken, L S. Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd Ed.). (2003).
  • West, Stephen G (Author) . Multiple linear regression. Comprehensive handbook of Psychology (2003).
  • West, Stephen G (Author) . Within-subject and longitudinal experiments: Design and analysis issues. Sage Handbook of Methods in Social Psycholgy (2003).
  • D MacKinnon, C Lockwood, J Hoffman, Stephen West, V Sheets. A comparison of methods to test the significance of the mediation and intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods (2002).
  • Stephen West. Some methodological and training/funding perspectives on the future of personality research. Journal of Research in Personality (2002).
  • Aiken, L S, West, Stephen G. Multiple regression. Encyclopedia of Psychology (2000).
  • J Biesanz, Stephen West. Personality coherence: Moderating self-other profile agreement and profile consensus. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2000).
  • L Lengua, S Wolchik, I Sandler, Stephen West. The additive and interactive effects of parenting and temperament in predicting adjustment problems of children of divorce. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology (2000).
  • M McCall, R Reno, N Jalbert, Stephen West. Communal orientation and attributions between the self and other. Basic and Applied Social Psychology (2000).
  • P Mehta, Stephen West. Putting the individual back in individual growth curves. Psychological Methods (2000).
  • S Wolchik, William Griffin, Stephen West, I Sandler, J Tein, D Coatesworth, L Lengua, L Weiss, E Anderson, S Greene. An experimental evaluation of theory-based mother and mother-child programs for children of divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (2000).
  • . . Contributions to research design: Donald Campbell's legacy (2000).
  • . . Handbook of research methods in personality and social psychology (2000).
  • Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & *Taylor, A. B. Correlation methods/regression methods. Handbook of research methods in abonormal and clinical psychology (0).
  • Stephen G. West and Felix Thoemmes. Equating Groups. Handbook of social research methods (0).
Research Activity
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 231Honors Intro to Statistics
Fall 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 230Introduction to Statistics
PSY 555Exper/Quasi-Experiment Designs
Spring 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 533Structural Equation Modeling
Fall 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 230Introduction to Statistics
PSY 591Seminar
Spring 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 533Structural Equation Modeling
Fall 2015
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 230Introduction to Statistics
PSY 555Exper/Quasi-Experiment Designs
Fall 2014
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 230Introduction to Statistics
PSY 390Experimental Psychology
Spring 2014
Course NumberCourse Title
PSY 230Introduction to Statistics
PSY 555Exper/Quasi-Experiment Designs
Presentations
  • West, S. G. & Wu, W. Evaluating fit in growth models for longitudinal data: Insights from SEM and HLM. International Congress of Psychology, Berlin (Jul 2008).
  • West, S. G., & Thoemmes. Towards minimizing bias in effect estimates in observational studies: Two empirical examples. International Congress of Psychology, Berlin (Jul 2008).
  • West, S. G., & Thoemmes, F. Observational Studies: Towards improving Design and Analysis. Symposium "Causal effects - Designs and Analysis", Jena, Germany (Jul 2008).
  • West, S. G. Discussion: Donald Rubin, The importance of objective design. Symposium "Causal effects - Designs and Analysis", Jena Germany (Jul 2008).
  • West, Stephen. Seeing your data: Displaying and detecting relationships in multiple regression. Univ of Texas, El Paso: Minority Career Opportunites in Research (Nov 2006).
  • Aiken, L, West, Stephen. Quantitative training in psychology: A decade of stability and change. American Psychological Association Convention (Aug 2006).
  • West, Stephen. Rubin's and Campbell's perspectives on causality. Symposium: Analysis of causal effects in experimental and quasi-experimental designs (Jul 2006).
  • West, Stephen, Aiken, L. Testing and interpreting interactions with novel forms of psychological data. Society for Multivariate Analysis in the Behavioral Sciences, Budapest (Jul 2006).
  • Kwok, O, West, Stephen, Sousa, K. Analyzing longitudinal parallel processing (LPP) model under structural equation modeling framewrok: An example from the AIDS time-oriented health outcome study (ATHOS). Society for Prevention Research (Jun 2006).
  • Wu, W, West, Stephen, Aiken, L, Caselli, R, Santerre-Lemmon, L, Merkley, T, Chen, K, Reiman, E, Alexander, G. Effect of APOE e4 on longitudinal rates of change of verabl memory performance in cognitively normal adulsts. ESAC/ARC Alzheimer's Disease Annual Meeting (Apr 2006).
  • Wu, W, West, Stephen, Aiken, L, Caselli, R, Santerre-Lemmon, L, Merkley, T, Chen, K, Reiman, E, Alexander, G. Effect of APOE e4 on longitudinal rates of change of verabl memory performance in cognitively normal adulsts. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (Nov 2005).
  • Wu, W, West, Stephen, Hughes, J. Effects of grade retention on the growth rate of achievement. American Psychological Association (Aug 2005).
  • Taylor, A, West, Stephen, Aiken, L. Effects on power of coarsely categorizing an outcome variable. American Psychological Association (Aug 2005).
  • West, Stephen. Workshop: Modern approaches to missing data. Western Psychological Association (Apr 2005).
  • West, Stephen, Aiken, Leona. Quantitative Methods. American Psychological Association
  • Aiken, Leona, West, Stephen. Interactions in Multiple Regression: The Basics and Beyond. Plenary Session-Invited
  • Aiken, Leona, West, Stephen. Testing and interpreting interactions with novel forms of psychological data. Invited statistics workshop
  • West, Stephen. Die eigenen Daten sehen: Modern graphical methods for exploring your data.
  • West, Stephen. Modern Approaches to Missing Data.
  • West, Stephen. Publishing in International Journals.
  • West, Stephen, Aiken, Leona. Multiple regression and the generalized linear model. Convention
  • West, Stephen. Methodology. German Psychological Association
  • West, Stephen. Robert Wherry lecture. Psychology Department, Ohio State University
Service
  • Journal of Research in Personality, editorial board member (2011 - Present)
  • Multivariate Behavioral Research, Associate Editor (2009 - Present)
  • Journal of personality and social psychology, editorial board (2009 - Present)
  • Committee on an Evidence Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision Making, Institute of Medicine, Member (2008 - Present)
  • Quantitative Search Committee, Chair (2008 - Present)
  • Psychological Methods, Editorial Board (2008 - Present)
  • Psychological Methods, Editorial Board (2008 - Present)
  • Journal of Research in Personality, Editorial Board (2007 - Present)
  • Personality and Social Psychology Compass, Editorial Board (2007 - Present)
  • Personality and social psychology compass, editorial board memeber (2007 - Present)
  • Current Directions in Psychological Science, Editorial Board (2004 - Present)
  • American Journal of Community Psychology, Editorial Board (2001 - Present)
  • quantitative psychology admissions committee, member (1999 - Present)
  • quantitative psychology admissions committee, member (1999 - Present)
  • Multivariate applications in the behavioral sciences (book series), Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, editorial advisory board (1999 - Present)
  • Multivariate applications in the behavioral sciences (book series), Taylor & Francis Publishers, editorial advisory board (1999 - Present)
  • Journal of Personality, Co-editor Tanaka series on quantitative methods in personality (1994 - Present)
  • journal of personality and social psychology, editorial board (2009 - 2010)
  • Psychological Methods, Editorial Board (2008 - 2010)
  • Personality and Social Psychology Compass, Editorial Board (2007 - 2010)
  • Current Directions in Psychological Science, Editorial Board (2004 - 2010)
  • American Journal of Community Psychology, Editorial Board (2001 - 2010)
  • american journal of community psychology, editorial board member (2001 - 2010)
  • quantitative psychology admissions committee, member (1999 - 2010)
  • Multivariate applications in the behavioral sciences (book series), Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, editorial advisory board (1999 - 2010)
  • Journal of Personality, Co-editor Tanaka series on quantitative methods in personality (1994 - 2010)
  • Institute of Medicine, Committee Member (2008 - 2010)
  • Institute of Medicine, Committee Member (2009 - 2010)
  • Current Directions in Psychological Science, Editorial Board (2004 - 2009)
  • Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology, President-elect, President, Past President (2006 - 2009)
  • Grant Oversight Committee (DSMB), Multilevel HIV-Prevention Strategy, Statistician (2004 - 2009)
  • Quantitative Search Committee, chair (2008 - 2009)
  • Psychological Methods, Editor (2001 - 2007)
  • Psychological Methods, Journal Editor (2000 - 2007)
  • NIMH, Member, Panel on alternatives to randomized clinical trial (2005 - 2006)
  • Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology, Chair, Dissertation Awards Committee (1998 - 2006)
  • American Psychological Association, Chair, Council of Editors (2005 - 2006)
  • American Psychological Association, Journal Advisory Committee (2004 - 2006)
  • Graduate Training Committee, member (2004 - 2006)
  • Special Emphasis Panel, BMRD study section, National Institutes of Health, Member, grant reviewer (2004 - 2005)
  • Nag's Head Conference on Personality and Social Behavior, Committee Member, J.S. Tanaka Dissertation Award in Personality (2003 - 2005)
  • social psychology admissions committee, member (2004)
  • Prevention and Treatment (APA electronic journal), Editorial Board (1998 - 2003)
  • American Psychological Association, Division 5 (Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics), Member, Fellows Commitee (2003)
  • Graduate College Mentor Awards Committee, member (2003)
  • Journal of Research in Personality, Editorial Board (2003)
  • National Science Foundation, reviewer (2003)
  • Prevention and Treatment, Editorial Board (2003)
  • American Psychological Association, Program Committee, Division 5 (Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics) (1999 - 2001)
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: PPID, Editorial Board (1997 - 2000)
  • Psychological Methods, Associate Editor (1997 - 2000)
Expertise Areas
Quantitative Psychology
Quantitative Analysis