Conventional DTSA can be estimated within the general latent variable framework that corresponds to a single-class latent class analysis with binary time-specific event indicators (Muthen & Masyn, 2005). The first step was to fit an unconditional survival model that included only the 12 binary time-specific event indicators for the occurrence of alcohol onset across adolescence. The constant hazard assumption was then evaluated by comparing the unconditional survival model, which allowed the hazard rate to vary across time, to a model that constrained the hazard rate to equality across ages using a likelihood-ratio test (LRT) based on the model deviance statistics.
