Mplus Users Guide v6.. - Muthén & Muthén

TITLE, DATA, VARIABLE, And DEFINE CommandsDESCRIPTIVE = y0-y5 | x0-x5 | * z1-z5;The first set of variables, y0-y5 defines the number of time points as six.The last set of variables has only five measures. An asterisk (*) is usedas a placeholder for the first time point.THE DATA SURVIVAL COMMANDThe DATA SURVIVAL command is used to create variables fordiscrete-time survival modeling where a binary discrete-time survival(event-history) variable represents whether or not a single nonrepeatableevent has occurred in a specific time period.A set of binary discrete-time survival variables is created using thefollowing rules:1. If the value of the original variable is missing, the new binaryvariable value is missing.2. If the value of the original variable is greater than the cutpoint value,the new binary variable value is one which represents that the eventhas occurred.3. If the value of the original variable is less than or equal to thecutpoint value, the new binary variable value is zero whichrepresents that the event has not occurred.4. After a discrete-time survival variable for an observation is assignedthe value one, subsequent discrete-time survival variables for thatobservation are assigned the value of the missing value flag.The new variables must be placed on the USEVARIABLES statement ofthe VARIABLE command if they are used in the analysis. Thesevariables must come after any original variables. If the binary variablesare used as dependent variables in the analysis, they must be declared ascategorical using the CATEGORICAL option of the VARIABLEcommand.The creation of the new variables in the DATA SURVIVAL commandoccurs after any transformations in the DEFINE command, the DATATWOPART command, and the DATA MISSING command. Followingis a description of the options used in the DATA SURVIVAL command.475