---
name: devpsych-tables-figures
description: Use when building tables and figures for a Developmental Psychology (APA) manuscript. The journal uses APA 7th-edition style and rewards exhibits that make developmental change visible — trajectory plots, age-on-the-x-axis figures, model-implied growth curves — with effect sizes and uncertainty. Designs exhibits; it does not run the analysis.
---

# Tables & Figures (devpsych-tables-figures)

In Developmental Psychology, the best exhibits **show change**. APA 7th-edition formatting is required,
but the venue-specific move is to make the developmental claim visible: **age or time on the x-axis**,
**individual trajectories plus the model-implied mean curve**, and **uncertainty** that a reader can see.
A bar chart of age-group means that hides within-person change is a missed opportunity here.

## When to trigger

- Designing the main trajectory/results figure or a key table
- Deciding what goes in the article vs. online supplemental material
- A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, non-APA, or "doesn't show the developmental pattern"
- Visualizing growth curves, individual variation, and interactions with age

## Principles

1. **Make change visible.** Prefer figures with **age/time on the x-axis** and the outcome on the y-axis:
   spaghetti plots (individual trajectories) behind the **model-implied mean curve**, or growth curves by
   moderator group. Show the developmental pattern, not just endpoint means.
2. **Show uncertainty and effect size.** Confidence bands/intervals on curves and estimates; report the
   slope/interaction magnitude so the figure carries the claim, not just a p-value.
3. **APA 7th + self-contained.** Titles, notes, axis labels (with age units), Ns per age/wave, and what
   the bands represent make each exhibit intelligible alone.
4. **A measurement-invariance / model table earns its place.** A compact table reporting invariance steps
   (configural/metric/scalar fit, ΔCFI) reassures reviewers the change claim is sound.
5. **Reproducible + accessible.** Generated by the deposited analysis script so values match; colorblind-
   safe and grayscale-legible.

## Worked micro-example — the main trajectory figure (illustrative)

For the three-wave effortful-control package, the primary figure must show the *growth*, not bars.

```
Figure 1. Effortful-control trajectories, ages 4-8, by maternal scaffolding.
  Geometry:  thin per-child spaghetti lines + bold model-implied mean curves
             for high vs. low scaffolding; 95% CI bands on the mean curves.
  Axes:      x = child age in years (4-8); y = effortful-control score.
  Annotation: latent slope b = 0.42/yr [0.31, 0.53]; scaffolding × time
             b = 0.18 [0.07, 0.29].
  Note:      Ns per wave, attrition count, what the bands are (95% CIs),
             and that growth is interpreted under scalar invariance.
  Source:    rendered by the deposited R (lavaan/ggplot) script so values match.
```

## Exhibit triage — article vs. online supplemental material

| Exhibit | Home | Reason |
|---------|------|--------|
| Main trajectory / growth figure with CIs | main text | this is the contribution |
| Measurement-invariance summary table | main text (compact) | underwrites the change claim |
| Full SEM path table / fit indices | supplement or appendix | secondary to the headline estimate |
| Attrition / completers-vs-dropouts table | supplement | credibility detail, not the headline |
| Robustness / alternative-model grid | supplement | summarized in one main-text sentence |

## Exhibit-stage reviewer pushback and the venue fix

- "Bar chart of age groups hides the change" → switch to a trajectory/growth-curve figure with age on x.
- "I can't tell the developmental pattern" → overlay individual lines and the model-implied mean; label
  the slope.
- "No uncertainty shown" → add CI bands and report the effect size in the note.
- "Figure values don't match the SEM table" → regenerate both from the single deposited script.

## Exhibit calibration anchors

- The figure is where a hurried editor sees the developmental claim; design the main exhibit to stand
  alone and to *show change over age*, not a pair of group means.
- Individual variation is part of the developmental story — show the spread of trajectories, not only the
  average, especially when heterogeneity in change is theoretically interesting.
- A small invariance table is cheap insurance: it tells reviewers the construct is the same thing across
  the ages you compare, pre-empting the most common developmental objection.
- Accessibility is part of credibility: colorblind-safe palettes and grayscale-legible encodings.

## Anti-patterns

- Bar plots of age-group means that hide within-person change and variability
- Exhibits that need the prose to be intelligible (not self-contained)
- Trajectory figures with no confidence bands or effect sizes
- Omitting Ns per age/wave or the attrition count from notes
- Exhibit values that don't match the shared analysis script

## Output format

```
【Main exhibit】what it shows + why a figure/table
【Shows change over age + uncertainty?】(trajectory/growth + CIs) [Y/N]
【Invariance table present?】[Y/N/NA]
【APA 7th + self-contained?】[Y/N]
【Article vs supplement】split decided
【Reproducible + accessible?】matches script, grayscale/colorblind-safe? [Y/N]
【Next】devpsych-writing-style
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — `ggplot2`, `tidySEM`, `papaja` for APA exhibits, trajectory-plot tooling
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — APA 7th style and exhibit requirements