It was hypothesized that traitedness would moderate the relationship of alcohol trait severity to concurrent validators, such that the relationship would be stronger for those individuals who fit the empirical model (and thus, the developmental sequence). The design of these analyses used a variant of moderated regression that has proved to be useful when the influence of traitedness upon a latent trait has been investigated (e.g., Tellegen et al., 1982). Moderated multiple regression, examining traitedness as a continuous moderator, does not force a dichotomy onto a concept that is largely thought to be dimensional in nature, and any potential loss of power is eliminated with the use of the entire sample. Additionally, any linear relationship between alcohol trait severity level and traitedness is controlled statistically within the regression model.
