Publications

Research Articles and Scholarly Work

Research Publications

My publications focus on quantitative methodology, mixture modeling, and the statistical analysis of complex developmental and educational data. Much of my work examines how latent variable models—particularly mixture and longitudinal models—are implemented in applied research and how modeling decisions influence statistical inference.

Through methodological studies, simulation research, and applied collaborations, this work seeks to improve the rigor, transparency, and interpretability of statistical modeling in the behavioral and social sciences.

Featured Article

Ten Frequently Asked Questions About Latent Transition Analysis

Nylund-Gibson, K., Garber, A. C., Carter, D., Chan, M., Arch, D. A., Simon, O., Whaling, K., Tartt, E., & Lawrie, S. I. (2023). Ten frequently asked questions about latent transition analysis. Psychological Methods.

View Article
Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Romero, L. S., O’Malley, M., & Carter, D. (2025). Replication using confirmatory latent class analysis: A school climate example. Journal of School Psychology.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2025.101455

Lawrie, I. L., Carter, D., Nylund-Gibson, K., & Kim, H. S. (2025). A tale of two belongings: Social and academic belonging differentially shape academic and psychological outcomes among university students. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1394588

Moore, S. A., Carter, D., Kim, E. K., Furlong, M. J., Nylund-Gibson, K., & Dowdy, E. (2024). Adolescents’ covitality patterns: Relations with student demographic characteristics and proximal academic and mental health outcomes. School Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-024-09663-9

Nylund-Gibson, K., Garber, A. C., Carter, D., Chan, M., Arch, D. A., Simon, O., Whaling, K., Tartt, E., & Lawrie, S. I. (2023). Ten frequently asked questions about latent transition analysis. Psychological Methods. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000486

Dowdy, E., Furlong, M. J., Nylund-Gibson, K., Arch, D., Hinton, T., & Carter, D. (2023). Validating a brief student distress measure for schoolwide wellness surveillance. Assessment for Effective Intervention. https://doi.org/10.1177/15345084221138947

Denson, N., Ing, M., Arch, D. A., Garber, A. C., Chan, M., Carter, D., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2022). A latent class analysis of students’ openness to learning from diverse others. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000451

Furlong, M. J., Paz, J. L., Carter, D., Dowdy, E., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2022). Extending validation of a social emotional health measure for middle school students. Contemporary School Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-022-00411-x

Wagle, R., Dowdy, E., Furlong, M. J., Nylund-Gibson, K., Carter, D., & Hinton, T. (2021). School belonging constellations considering complete mental health in primary schools. Educational and Developmental Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2021.1964071

Furlong, M. J., Dowdy, E., Nylund-Gibson, K., Wagle, R., Carter, D., & Hinton, T. (2020). Enhancement and standardization of a universal social-emotional health measure for students’ psychological strengths. Journal of Well-Being Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41543-020-00032-2

Hinton, T., Dowdy, E., Furlong, M. J., Nylund-Gibson, K., Carter, D., & Wagle, R. (2020). Examining the social emotional health survey-secondary for use with Latinx youth. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282920953236

Wagle, R., Dowdy, E., Furlong, M. J., Nylund-Gibson, K., Carter, D., & Hinton, T. (2020). Anonymous versus self-identified response formats for school mental health screening. Assessment for Effective Intervention. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508420959439

Laganá, L., Gavrilova, L., Carter, D. B., & Ainsworth, A. T. (2017). A randomized controlled study on the effects of a documentary on students’ empathy and attitudes toward older adults. Psychology and Cognitive Sciences – Open Journal.

Plunkett, S. W., White, X., Carter, D. B., & Horner, M. E. F. (2016). Parental support and psychological control in relation to African American college students’ self-esteem. Journal of Africana Studies.

Research in Progress

Research in Progress

In Press

Nylund-Gibson, K., Arch, D. N., & Carter, D. (in press). Latent transition analysis with auxiliary variables: A demonstration of the ML 3-step and BCH methods in Mplus. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology.

Under Review

Carter, D. (under review). Distal outcomes in mixture modeling: A guide for pairwise comparisons, multiplicity control, and effect size reporting. Behavior Research Methods (Tutorial Special Collection).

Carter, D., Plunkett, S., Alpizar, D., Ainsworth, A., & Laganá, L. (under review). Psychometric evaluation of the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire among Filipino American emerging adult men and women. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.

Revision Requested

Hart, S. R., Carter, D., Olwert, M. R., & Paul, R. P. (revision requested). A latent profile analysis of body image and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in adolescent males. Eating Behaviors.

In Preparation

Carter, D. (in preparation). Systematic review of latent transition analysis in practice: A pilot study.

Carter, D., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (in preparation). The systematic review of latent transition analysis in practice.

Research Monographs

Research Monographs & Reports

Carter, D. B., Sharkey, J., & Doty, S. (2018, December). Moral reconation therapy engagement study: Client and counselor perspectives. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Carter, D. B., Hunnicut, K., & Sharkey, J. (2018, November). Santa Barbara County annual report: Public safety realignment October 2011–December 2017. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Carter, D. B., & Sharkey, J. (2018, August). Substance abuse treatment court outcome evaluation. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Hunnicut, K., Carter, D. B., Sharkey, J., & Cosden, M. (2018, March). Santa Barbara County annual report: Public safety realignment October 2011–December 2016. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Presentations

Selected Conference Presentations

Carter, D. (2026, April). When is RI-LTA necessary? A Monte Carlo comparison of latent transition models. Symposium presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Carter, D., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2023, April). Understanding the performance of random intercept latent transition analysis under varied conditions and competing models. Symposium talk presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, USA.

Carter, D., Nylund-Gibson, K., Furlong, M. J., & Dowdy, E. (2022, April). Random intercept latent transition analysis: An illustration, comparison, and simulation. Symposium presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, USA.

Carter, D., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2021, April). Validation and calibration in mixture modeling: The exploratory factor analysis/confirmatory factor analysis of mixture models. Symposium presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Online Format.

Carter, D., Garber, A., Nylund-Gibson, K., Dowdy, E., & Furlong, M. J. (2021, April). Understanding patterns of social-emotional strengths across students with and without disabilities: Different, not worse. Symposium presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Online Format.

Carter, D., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2019, April). Mixture models: Calculate the explained variance in distal outcomes from the categorical latent variable. Symposium presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON, Canada.