Abstract

This chapter provides a broad introduction to a person-centered perspective of commitment research more generally, and to the various possibilities provided by mixture models more specifically. Thus, after introducing the person-centered approach to commitment research, key elements of its implementation in research are addressed. A generalized structural equation modeling framework of broad relevance to all forms of person-centered analyses is then introduced, together with user-friendly descriptions of the various types of models that can be estimated using this framework (latent profile analyses, latent profile analyses with covariates, factor mixture analysis, similarity testing for profile solutions, latent transition analyses, mixture regression analyses, growth mixture analyses). For each model, a non-technical description of the model and of its implementation is provided, and followed by a brief illustration of the model through a short description of previously published applications