The baseline bivariate LGM is displayed in Figure 1. The personality intercept and personality slope depicted in Figure 1 represent the initial modeling of the respective personality constructs (i.e., impulsivity, neuroticism, extraversion), whereas the alcohol intercept and alcohol slope represent the initial modeling of the alcohol involvement variables (see Figure 1 caption for more details). The intercept factors represent the initial level (roughly age 18) in the respective constructs of personality and problematic alcohol involvement. Thus, a significant correlation between these factors would indicate a relation between baseline personality and baseline problematic alcohol involvement. The slope factors depicted in Figure 1 indicate change in the respective constructs of personality and problematic alcohol involvement. A significant correlation between the slope factors (as depicted by a dotted line in Figure 1) would indicate that changes in personality are associated with changes in problematic alcohol involvement. For example, a significant positive correlation between the slope of neuroticism and the slope of alcohol involvement would indicate that individuals who decreased in neuroticism were more likely to also decrease in problematic alcohol involvement.
