Table 1.

Comparison of the Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) of Simulated Dual Trajectory Data

		True Parameter	Estimate from MLE	SE from MLE	Estimated Median of the Posterior Distribution	Estimated SD of the Posterior Distribution
Panel A: Estimate from Series A
Latent Group 1	Intercept	118	117.94	0.09	117.93	0.09
	Age	3	3.01	0.04	3.02	0.04
	Age^2	0.1	0.10	0.00	0.10	0.00
Latent Group 2	Intercept	110	110.01	0.07	110.01	0.07
	Age	5	5.01	0.03	5.01	0.03
	Age^2	−0.5	−0.50	0.00	−0.50	0.00
Latent Group 3	Intercept	111	110.95	0.10	110.93	0.10
	Age	−2	−1.98	0.05	−1.98	0.04
	Age^2	0.1	0.10	0.00	0.10	0.00
Sigma		1.414	1.19	0.01	1.19	0.01
Panel B: Estimate from Series B
Latent Group 1	Intercept	112	112.10	0.18	112.06	0.18
	Age	2	1.90	0.08	1.91	0.08
	Age^2	0.7	0.71	0.01	0.71	0.01
Latent Group 2	Intercept	111	111.02	0.14	110.99	0.14
	Age	−3	−3.03	0.07	−3.02	0.06
	Age^2	0.1	0.10	0.01	0.10	0.01
Latent Group 3	Intercept	110	109.76	0.12	109.75	0.12
	Age	6	6.13	0.06	6.14	0.06
	Age^2	−0.6	−0.61	0.01	−0.61	0.01
Sigma		2	2.03	0.02	2.03	0.02

Note: Maximum likelihood estimates are obtained from the package “traj” in Stata 16.