References

Author

Dr. Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno

Reading List

Linear Regression

Logistic Regression

  • This paper uses the glm function to model the presence of fictional fantastic characters Corlatti (2021). Super cool.
  • While we do not cover it here, this paper explains how to use multilevel modeling with a categorical dependent variable: Merlo et al. (2006).
  • A recent co-authored manuscript used logistic regression, you can read it: Meshelemiah et al. (2024)

Mediation and Moderation

  • This paper Livingston & Haardörfer (2019) should be read together with Glick et al. (2019).
  • This paper is a tutorial on how to use the SPSS PROCESS macro by Hayes Clement & Bradley-Garcia (2022)
  • I have used moderation and mediation in several papers, here is one example: Barboza-Salerno & Meshelemiah (2024)

Factor Analysis

  • This paper has some cool visualizations: Štiglic et al. (2023) and I downloaded it here
  • I have used factor analytic techniques in many papers, here is one example: Elise Barboza & Siller (2021)

Power Analysis

This paper is good to follow if you need to calculate power for causal models Qin (2023)

Dummy Variable Coding

This paper is a must read Johfre & Freese (2021)

Social Justice Applications

While not directly stating it, in this paper Barboza-Salerno (2020) I found increases in post-partum parenting stress is linked to poor socio-emotional adjustment in children. My examination of the PRAMS data set suggests that psychosocial stressors during pregnancy, a vulnerable period for many, increases the risk of intimate partner violence.


Barboza-Salerno, G. E. (2020). Cognitive readiness to parent, stability and change in postpartum parenting stress and social-emotional problems in early childhood: A second order growth curve model. Children and Youth Services Review, 113, 104958.
Barboza-Salerno, G. E., & Meshelemiah, J. C. (2024). Associations between early child adversity and lifetime suicide attempts among gender diverse individuals: A moderated mediation. Child Abuse & Neglect, 149, 106705.
Clement, L. M., & Bradley-Garcia, M. (2022). A step-by-step tutorial for performing a moderated mediation analysis using PROCESS. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 18(3), 258–271.
Corlatti, L. (2021). Regression Models, Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them: A Simple Tutorial for Ecologists Using R. Bioinformatics and Biology Insights, 15, 11779322211051522. https://doi.org/10.1177/11779322211051522
Regression modeling is a workhorse of statistical ecology that allows to find relationships between a response variable and a set of explanatory variables. Despite being one of the fundamental statistical ideas in ecological curricula, regression modeling can be complex and subtle. This paper is intended as an applied protocol to help students understand the data, select the most appropriate models, verify assumptions, and interpret the output. Basic ecological questions are tackled using data from a fictional series, ?Fantastic beasts and where to find them,? with the aim to show how statistical thinking can foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in ecology, from the formulation of hypotheses to the interpretation of results.
Elise Barboza, G., & Siller, L. A. (2021). Child maltreatment, school bonds, and adult violence: A serial mediation model. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(11-12), NP5839–NP5873.
Glick, A. F., Farkas, J. S., Mendelsohn, A. L., Fierman, A. H., Tomopoulos, S., Rosenberg, R. E., Dreyer, B. P., Melgar, J., Varriano, J., & Yin, H. S. (2019). Discharge Instruction Comprehension and Adherence Errors: Interrelationship Between Plan Complexity and Parent Health Literacy. The Journal of Pediatrics, 214, 193–200.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.04.052
Objective To examine associations between parent health literacy, discharge plan complexity, and parent comprehension of and adherence to inpatient discharge instructions. Study design This was a prospective cohort study of English/Spanish-speaking parents (n = 165) of children \(\leq\)12 years discharged on \(\geq\)1 daily medication from an urban, public hospital. Outcome variables were parent comprehension (survey) of and adherence (survey, in-person dosing assessment, chart review) to discharge instructions. Predictor variables included low parent health literacy (Newest Vital Sign score 0-3) and plan complexity. Generalized estimating equations were used to account for the assessment of multiple types of comprehension and adherence errors for each subject, adjusting for ethnicity, language, child age, length of stay, and chronic disease status. Similar analyses were performed to assess for mediation and moderation. Results Error rates were highest for comprehension of medication side effects (50%), adherence to medication dose (34%), and return precaution (78%) instructions. Comprehension errors were associated with adherence errors (aOR, 8.7; 95% CI, 5.9-12.9). Discharge plan complexity was associated with comprehension (aOR, 7.0; 95% CI, 5.4-9.1) and adherence (aOR, 5.5; 95% CI, 4.0-7.6) errors. Low health literacy was indirectly associated with adherence errors through comprehension errors. The association between plan complexity and comprehension errors was greater in parents with low (aOR, 8.3; 95% CI, 6.2-11.2) compared with adequate (aOR, 3.8; 95% CI, 2.2-6.5) health literacy (interaction term P = .004). Conclusions Parent health literacy and discharge plan complexity play key roles in comprehension and adherence errors. Future work will focus on the development of health literacy-informed interventions to promote discharge plan comprehension.
Johfre, S. S., & Freese, J. (2021). Reconsidering the reference category. Sociological Methodology, 51(2), 253–269.
Littleton, T., Freisthler, B., Boyd, R., Smith, A. M., & Barboza-Salerno, G. (2024). Historical redlining, neighborhood disadvantage, and reports of child maltreatment in a large urban county. Child Abuse & Neglect, 156, 107011.
Livingston, M. D., & Haardörfer, R. (2019). A gentle introduction to mediation and moderation. The Journal of Pediatrics, 214, 246–248.
Merlo, J., Chaix, B., Ohlsson, H., Beckman, A., Johnell, K., Hjerpe, P., Råstam, L., & Larsen, K. (2006). A brief conceptual tutorial of multilevel analysis in social epidemiology: Using measures of clustering in multilevel logistic regression to investigate contextual phenomena. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 60(4), 290–297.
Meshelemiah, J. C., Dellor, E., Karandikar, S., Munshi, A., Barboza-Salerno, G., & Steinke, H. R. (2024). Adverse childhood experiences, women who are sex trafficked, and social service utilization: Implications for social work. Social Work, swae024.
Qin, X. (2023). Sample size and power calculations for causal mediation analysis: A Tutorial and Shiny App. Behavior Research Methods, 56(3), 1738–1769. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02118-0
Razak, M. R. R. (2019). Child social welfare institution participation in the implementation of good governance.
Štiglic, G., Budler, L. C., & Watson, R. (2023). 15 running a confirmatory factor analysis in r: A step-by-step tutorial. In K. Č. Trifkovič, M. Lorber, N. M. Reljić, & G. Štiglic (Eds.), Education and research (pp. 207–222). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/doi:10.1515/9783110786088-015