This very common question reflects a great deal of unnecessary confusion about how to select a specific analytic approach for modeling longitudinal data. The general term “growth modeling” refers to a variety of statistical methods that allow for the estimation of inter-individual (or between-person) differences in intra-individual (or within-person) change. Often, the function describing within-person change is referred to as a “growth curve” or “trajectory” and can produce different patterns from person to person: trajectories might be flat (not changing over time) or they might be systematically increasing or decreasing in some linear or non-linear form over time. These trajectories might be the primary focus of analysis or they might represent just part of a more complex longitudinal model. Regardless of purpose, there are two general approaches most often used to fit growth models to sample data.

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