Dr O'Toole Is a Counseling Psychologist Who Researches Family Dynamics

Essay

Dr. O'Toole is a counseling psychologist who researches family dynamics. He is curious as to whether there is a causal link between the amount of time families spend together on vacation and children's happiness. More specifically, he thinks that spending more time together as a family on vacation causes children to be happier. He designs a study where he samples 63 single-child families in December 2012 and measures how many days the family spent on vacation in the past year as well as the child's happiness. He then contacts the same families in December 2016 and measures those two variables again. The results of his study are below.


There are three types of correlations discussed in longitudinal designs. From Dr. O'Toole's study, provide an example of each of the following: a cross-sectional correlation, an autocorrelation, and a cross-lag correlation. Make sure you use the variable names and not just the correlation numbers (e.g., the correlation between 2012 vacation days and 2012 child happiness).