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Author: Sorjonen, Kimmo
Resulting in 6 citations.
1. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Falkstedt, Daniel
Wallin, Alma Sörberg
Melin, Bo
Nilsonne, Gustav
Dangers of Residual Confounding: A Cautionary Tale featuring Cognitive Ability, Socioeconomic Background, and Education
BMC Psychology 9, 145 (September 2021): DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00653-z.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40359-021-00653-z
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability; Educational Attainment; Socioeconomic Background

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Background: Cognitive ability and socioeconomic background (SEB) have been previously identified as determinants of achieved level of education. According to a "discrimination hypothesis", higher cognitive ability is required from those with lower SEB in order to achieve the same level of education as those with higher SEB. Support for this hypothesis has been claimed from the observation of a positive association between SEB and achieved level of education when adjusting for cognitive ability. We propose a competing hypothesis that the observed association is due to residual confounding.

Methods: To adjudicate between the discrimination and the residual confounding hypotheses, data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97, N = 8984) was utilized, including a check of the logic where we switched predictor and outcome variables.

Results: The expected positive association between SEB and achieved level of education when adjusting for cognitive ability (predicted by both hypotheses) was found, but a positive association between cognitive ability and SEB when adjusting for level of education (predicted only by the residual confounding hypothesis) was also observed.

Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo, Daniel Falkstedt, Alma Sörberg Wallin, Bo Melin and Gustav Nilsonne. "Dangers of Residual Confounding: A Cautionary Tale featuring Cognitive Ability, Socioeconomic Background, and Education." BMC Psychology 9, 145 (September 2021): DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00653-z.
2. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Melin, Bo
Necessary Condition Analysis Has Either Low Specificity or Low Sensitivity: Results from Simulations and Empirical Analyses of Grit, Depression, and Anxiety
Heliyon 9,4 (April 2023): e14848.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023020558
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Anxiety; Depression (see also CESD); Personality/Big Five Factor Model or Traits; Statistical Analysis

Objectives: Initially the stated goal of Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) was to help identify conditions that are necessary but not sufficient for some outcome. However, later the developers of the test asserted that the test is for identifying if the association between two variables is characterized by some indeterminate type of non-randomness. The objective of the present study was to assess the ability of NCA to achieve its originally as well as its more newly stated objective. Furthermore, the performance of NCA was compared with the performance of ordinary linear regression analysis.

Methods: Data simulating various deviations from randomness as well as empirical data on grit, depression, and anxiety in the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) were analyzed with NCA and with linear regression.

Results: For its initially stated objective, NCA displayed low specificity. For its more newly stated objective, NCA exhibited low sensitivity. Ordinary linear regression analysis was better than NCA at identifying non-random associations, especially negative associations.

Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo and Bo Melin. "Necessary Condition Analysis Has Either Low Specificity or Low Sensitivity: Results from Simulations and Empirical Analyses of Grit, Depression, and Anxiety." Heliyon 9,4 (April 2023): e14848.
3. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Melin, Bo
Spurious Correlations in Research on the Effects of Specific Cognitive Abilities
Personality and Individual Differences 187 (March 2022): 111417.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886921007960
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Studies on the effect of non-g ability residuals have often employed double adjustment for general cognitive ability (g), as they have calculated the ability residuals adjusting for g and then calculated the effect of the non-g residuals while adjusting for g. The present simulations demonstrate that the double adjustments may result in spurious negative associations between the non-g residual on one cognitive ability, e.g. verbal ability, and variables with a positive association with another ability, e.g. SAT math and math ability. In analyses of data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), the negative associations between non-g residuals on verbal and math ability and aptitude test scores on the other ability vanished when not double adjusting for g. This indicates that the observed negative associations may be spurious and not due to differential investment of time and effort in one ability at the expense of the other ability, as suggested in the literature. Researchers of the effects of specific abilities are recommended to validate their findings and interpretations with analyses not double adjusting for g.
Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo and Bo Melin. "Spurious Correlations in Research on the Effects of Specific Cognitive Abilities." Personality and Individual Differences 187 (March 2022): 111417.
4. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Nilsonne, Gustav
Ingre, Michael
Melin, Bo
Regression to the Mean in Latent Change Score Models: An Example Involving Breastfeeding and Intelligence
BMC Pediatrics 22 (May 2022): 283.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12887-022-03349-4
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Breastfeeding; Intelligence; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Method: In the present study, we investigate regression to the mean in the case of breastfeeding and intelligence of children. We used latent change score modeling to analyze intergenerational change in intelligence, both from mothers to children and backward from children to mothers, in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) dataset (N = 6283).

Results: When analyzing change from mothers to children, breastfeeding was found to have a positive association with intergenerational change in intelligence, whereas when analyzing backward change from children to mothers, a negative association was found.

Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo, Gustav Nilsonne, Michael Ingre and Bo Melin. "Regression to the Mean in Latent Change Score Models: An Example Involving Breastfeeding and Intelligence." BMC Pediatrics 22 (May 2022): 283.
5. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Nilsonne, Gustav
Ingre, Michael
Melin, Bo
Spurious Correlations in Research on Ability Tilt
Personality and Individual Differences 185 (February 2022): 111268.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886921006474
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability

Ability tilt refers to a within-individual difference between two abilities (X-Y), e.g. differences between tech and verbal or verbal and math abilities. Studies have found associations between ability tilts and their constituent abilities (X or Y). Here we show that such associations may be spurious due to the non-independence of the two measures. Using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), we find that associations between ability and ability tilt may simply be due to more positive associations between two measures of the same or similar abilities compared to two measures of different or dissimilar abilities. This finding calls into question theoretical interpretations that have proposed that ability tilt correlations are due to differential investment of time and effort in one ability at the expense of the other ability.
Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo, Gustav Nilsonne, Michael Ingre and Bo Melin. "Spurious Correlations in Research on Ability Tilt." Personality and Individual Differences 185 (February 2022): 111268.
6. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Wallin, Alma Sörberg
Falkstedt, Daniel
Melin, Bo
Personality Trait by Intelligence Interaction Effects on Grades Tend to Be Synergistic
BMC Psychology 9 (Dec 2021): 202.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40359-021-00708-1
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: BMC - BioMed Central
Keyword(s): Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Grade Point Average (GPA)/Grades; Intelligence; Personality/Big Five Factor Model or Traits

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Background: Earlier research has identified both synergistic and compensatory personality traits by intelligence interaction effects on academic performance.

Methods: The present study employed data on intelligence, personality traits, and academic performance in the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97, N = 8984).

Results: Some intelligence by personality trait interaction effects, mainly involving indicators of dependability, on high school grades were identified. The interaction effects tended to be synergistic, meaning that the association between the trait and grades tended to strengthen with increased intelligence. A positive association between intelligence and the reliability in the measurement of a dependability composite score accounted for a substantial portion of the synergistic dependability by intelligence interaction effect on academic performance.

Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo, Alma Sörberg Wallin, Daniel Falkstedt and Bo Melin. "Personality Trait by Intelligence Interaction Effects on Grades Tend to Be Synergistic." BMC Psychology 9 (Dec 2021): 202.