Mariëlle Zondervan-Zwijnenburg

Vilans

Synthesizing results across multiple studies is a popular way to increase the robustness of scientific findings. The most well-known method for doing this is meta-analysis. However, because meta-analysis requires conceptually comparable effect sizes with the same statistical form, meta-analysis may not be possible when studies are highly diverse in...

Safety behaviors can prevent or minimize a feared outcome. However, in relatively safe situations, they may be less adaptive, presumably because people will misattribute safety to these behaviors. This research aimed to investigate whether safety behaviors in safe situations can lead to increased threat beliefs. In Study 1, we aimed to replicate a...

Prior studies have indicated that prosocial behavior might be a protective factor for developing internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. However, little research has been conducted on within-person changes of prosocial behavior and behavioral problems over time. With random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs), the current st...

The last 25 years have shown a steady increase in attention for the Bayes factor as a tool for hypothesis evaluation and model selection. The present review highlights the potential of the Bayes factor in psychological research. We discuss six types of applications: Bayesian evaluation of point null, interval, and informative hypotheses, Bayesian e...

This research longitudinally explored adolescent pornography (porn) consumption and its association with sexual development in early and middle adolescence. A four-wave design with half-year intervals investigated pornography consumption and different (sexual) activities, such as masturbation, French kissing, petting, giving/receiving manual and or...

In the current study, we introduce the prior predictive p-value as a method to test replication of an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The prior predictive p-value is based on the prior predictive distribution. If we use the original study to compose the prior distribution, then the prior predictive distribution contains datasets that are expected giv...

The outbreak of COVID‐19 has turned out to be a major challenge to societies all over the globe. Curbing the pandemic requires rapid and extensive behavioural change to limit social interaction, including physical distancing. In this study, we tested the notion that inducing empathy for people vulnerable to the virus may result in actual distancing...

Background Bayesian estimation with informative priors permits updating previous findings with new data, thus generating cumulative knowledge. To reduce subjectivity in the process, the present study emphasizes how to systematically weigh and specify informative priors and highlights the use of different aggregation methods using an empirical examp...

The COVID-19 lockdown has significantly disrupted the higher education environment within the Netherlands and led to changes in available study-related resources and study demands of students. These changes in study resources and study demands, the uncertainty and confusion about educational activities, the developing fear and anxiety about the dis...

Prior studies have indicated that prosocial behavior might be a protective factor for developing behavioral problems. The current study analyzed longitudinal associations between prosocial behavior and behavioral problems in two twin cohorts (98% Western European): in early childhood (age M=4.77, 52% girls, N=440) and middle childhood (age M=7.94,...

In 5 of the 6 large Dutch developmental cohorts investigated here, lower SES adolescents are underrepresented and higher SES adolescents overrepresented. With former studies clearly revealing differences between SES strata in adolescent social competence and behavioral control, this misrepresentation may contribute to an overestimation of normative...

The trend toward large-scale collaborative studies gives rise to the challenge of combining data from different sources efficiently. Here, we demonstrate how Bayesian evidence synthesis can be used to quantify and compare support for competing hypotheses and to aggregate this support over studies. We applied this method to study the ordering of mul...

The last 25 years have shown a steady increase in attention for the Bayes factor as a tool for hypothesis evaluation and model selection. The present review highlights the potential of the Bayes factor in psychological research. We discuss six types of applications: Bayesian evaluation of point null, interval, and informative hypotheses, Bayesian e...

Longitudinal data from multiple cohorts may be analyzed by Bayesian research synthesis. Here, we illustrate this approach by investigating the development of self-control between age 13 and 19 and the role of sex therein in a multi-cohort, longitudinal design. Three Dutch cohorts supplied data: the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR; N = 21,079), Resea...

Objective: Advanced parenthood increases the risk of severe neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, Down syndrome and schizophrenia. Does advanced parenthood also negatively impact offspring’s general neurodevelopment? Method: We analyzed child-, father-, mother- and teacher-rated attention-problems (N = 38,024), and standardized measures of inte...

BACKGROUND Given that more than half the world’s population report feelings of meaninglessness and that access to psychological services are limited or expensive, psychologists need to develop innovative and scalable means to provide psychological services to those in need. Social media platforms provides an innovative channel through which to admi...

To examine the contributions of maternal and paternal age on offspring externalizing and internalizing problems, this study analyzed problem behaviors at age 10–12 years from four Dutch population‐based cohorts (N = 32,892) by a multiple informant design. Bayesian evidence synthesis was used to combine results across cohorts with 50% of the data an...

This paper introduces the prior predictive p-value as a manner to test replication in structural equation models. Using the replication of a piecewise latent growth model as a running example, the study explains the steps of the prior predictive p-value and illustrates them with R-code. The R-code included in the paper and the Supplementary R-scrip...

In the current study, we explain how replication of an analysis of variance can be tested with the prior predictive p-value. That is, we test to what degree the new data deviates from data that can predicted based on the original results, considering relevant features of the original study. The central role of claims by the original study is one of...

Longitudinal developmental research is often focused on patterns of change or growth across different (sub)groups of individuals. Particular to some research contexts, developmental inquiries may involve one or more (sub)groups that are small in nature and therefore difficult to properly capture through statistical analysis. The current study explo...

Elicitation is a commonly used tool to extract viable information from experts. The information that is held by the expert is extracted and a probabilistic representation of this knowledge is constructed. A promising avenue in psychological research is to incorporated experts’ prior knowledge in the statistical analysis. Systematic reviews on elici...

This article demonstrates the usefulness of Bayesian estimation with small samples. In Bayesian estimation, prior information can be included, which increases the precision of the posterior distribution. The posterior distribution reflects likely parameter values given the current state of knowledge. An issue that has received little attention, how...

Although the statistical tools most often used by researchers in the field of psychology over the last 25 years are based on frequentist statistics, it is often claimed that the alternative Bayesian approach to statistics is gaining in popularity. In the current article, we investigated this claim by performing the very first systematic review of B...

Previous research has shown links between parenting and externalizing behavior problems in young children over time. Associations between inhibitory control, one of the executive functions, and externalizing behavior problems are widely established as well. Yet, the role of inhibitory control in the maintenance and change of externalizing behavior...

The purpose of the current study was to apply and evaluate a procedure to elicit expert judgments about correlations, and to update this information with empirical data. The result is a face-to-face group elicitation procedure with as its central element a trial roulette question that elicits experts' judgments expressed as distributions. During th...

Many researchers face the problem of missing data in longitudinal research. Especially, high risk samples are characterized by missing data which can complicate analyses and the interpretation of results. In the current study, our aim was to find the most optimal and best method to deal with the missing data in a specific study with many missing da...

Background The analysis of small data sets in longitudinal studies can lead to power issues and often suffers from biased parameter values. These issues can be solved by using Bayesian estimation in conjunction with informative prior distributions. By means of a simulation study and an empirical example concerning posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS...