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Path Analysis in Mplus: a Tutorial Using a Conceptual Model of Psychological and Behavioral Antecedents of Bulimic Symptoms in Young Adults

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Path Analysis in Mplus: a Tutorial Using a Conceptual Model of Psychological and Behavioral Antecedents of Bulimic Symptoms in Young Adults ¦ 2019 Vol. 15 no. 1 Path ANALYSIS IN Mplus: A TUTORIAL USING A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ANTECEDENTS OF BULIMIC SYMPTOMS IN YOUNG ADULTS Kheana Barbeau a, B, KaYLA Boileau A, FATIMA Sarr A & KEVIN Smith A A School OF Psychology, University OF Ottawa AbstrACT ACTING Editor Path ANALYSIS IS A WIDELY USED MULTIVARIATE TECHNIQUE TO CONSTRUCT CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF psychological, cognitive, AND BEHAVIORAL phenomena. Although CAUSATION CANNOT BE INFERRED BY Roland PfiSTER (Uni- VERSIT¨AT Wurzburg)¨ USING THIS technique, RESEARCHERS UTILIZE PATH ANALYSIS TO PORTRAY POSSIBLE CAUSAL LINKAGES BETWEEN Reviewers OBSERVABLE CONSTRUCTS IN ORDER TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PROCESSES AND MECHANISMS BEHIND A GIVEN phenomenon. The OBJECTIVES OF THIS TUTORIAL ARE TO PROVIDE AN OVERVIEW OF PATH analysis, step-by- One ANONYMOUS re- VIEWER STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONDUCTING PATH ANALYSIS IN Mplus, AND GUIDELINES AND TOOLS FOR RESEARCHERS TO CONSTRUCT AND EVALUATE PATH MODELS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE fiELDS OF STUDY. These OBJECTIVES WILL BE MET BY USING DATA TO GENERATE A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE psychological, cognitive, AND BEHAVIORAL ANTECEDENTS OF BULIMIC SYMPTOMS IN A SAMPLE OF YOUNG adults. KEYWORDS TOOLS Path analysis; Tutorial; Eating Disorders. Mplus. B [email protected] KB: 0000-0001-5596-6214; KB: 0000-0002-1132-5789; FS:NA; KS:NA 10.20982/tqmp.15.1.p038 Introduction QUESTIONS AND IS COMMONLY EMPLOYED FOR GENERATING AND EVALUATING CAUSAL models. This TUTORIAL AIMS TO PROVIDE ba- Path ANALYSIS (also KNOWN AS CAUSAL modeling) IS A multi- SIC KNOWLEDGE IN EMPLOYING AND INTERPRETING PATH models, VARIATE STATISTICAL TECHNIQUE THAT IS OFTEN USED TO DETERMINE GUIDELINES FOR CREATING PATH models, AND UTILIZING Mplus TO IF A PARTICULAR A PRIORI CAUSAL MODEL fiTS A RESEARCHER’S DATA CONDUCT PATH analysis. An A PRIORI CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF psy- well; however, PATH ANALYSIS IS “NOT INTENDED TO DISCOVER CHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ANTECEDENTS OF BULIMIC sympto- CAUSES BUT TO SHED LIGHT ON THE TENABILITY OF THE CAUSAL mod- MOLOGY IN YOUNG ADULTS WILL BE UTILIZED AS AN EXAMPLE PATH ELS THAT A RESEARCHER FORMULATES” (Pedhazur, 1997, pp. 769- model. 770). Although CAUSAL MODELS ARE tested, CAUSATION CANNOT WhY TAKE THE PATH TO path? BE implied, SINCE CAUSATION CAN ONLY BE INFERRED THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL design. Path ANALYSIS IS GAINING popular- Path ANALYSIS IS AN EXTENSION OF MULTIPLE REGRESSION BUT ITY ACROSS VARIOUS fiELDS OF RESEARCH BECAUSE OF ITS UNIQUE ALLOWS RESEARCHERS TO INFER AND TEST A SEQUENCE OF CAUSAL PROPERTIES OF BEING ABLE TO ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF MULTIPLE LINKS BETWEEN VARIABLES OF interest. It ALSO ALLOWS re- CAUSAL MODELS FOR A SINGLE dataset; TO EXAMINE “CAUSAL” in- SEARCHERS TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MULTIPLE FERENCES OR LINKAGES BETWEEN VARIABLES OF interest, includ- PREDICTOR AND CRITERION VARIABLES SIMULTANEOUSLY. Path ING EXAMINING THE PREDICTIVE POWER OF ONE PREDICTOR vari- ANALYSIS IS ALSO CONSIDERED A SPECIAL CASE OF STRUCTURAL equa- ABLE ON MORE THAN ONE CRITERION variable; AND TO exam- TION MODELING (SEM). SEM IS A GENERAL TECHNIQUE THAT IS INE DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS AMONGST ALL VARIABLES IN THE USED TO GENERATE INFERENCES ABOUT MEASUREMENT ERROR IN MODEL SIMULTANEOUSLY. Path ANALYSIS IS A POWERFUL statis- LATENT CONSTRUCTS (psychological CONSTRUCTS THAT CANNOT BE TICAL TECHNIQUE THAT CAN ANSWER MANY TYPES OF RESEARCH MEASURED directly) AND CAUSAL LINKS BETWEEN MULTIPLE pre- T Q M P HE UANTITATIVE ETHODS FOR SYCHOLOGY 38 2 ¦ 2019 Vol. 15 no. 1 DICTOR AND CRITERION VARIABLES (Bollen, 1989b; Kline, 1998). UALS WHOSE NEEDS ARE FRUSTRATED MAY ENGAGE IN UNHEALTHY Similar TO regression, THIS TECHNIQUE OPERATES BY examin- COMPENSATORY BEHAVIORS IN ORDER TO REGAIN short-term feel- ING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ESTIMATED PARAMETERS AND INGS OF NEED satisfaction. Need FRUSTRATION ALSO RENDERS THE variance-covariance MATRIX OF OBSERVED OR LATENT vari- INDIVIDUALS VULNERABLE TO ENDORSING CULTURAL ideals, SINCE ables; however, SEM CAN BE USED TO DERIVE ADDITIONAL infer- PERSONAL RESOURCES TO REJECT THESE IDEALS ARE DEPLETED (Pel- ENCES REGARDING WHICH PARAMETERS AND HOW MANY PARam- LETIER & Dion, 2007). ETERS “BEST fiT” THE data. Although PATH ANALYSIS OPERATES The CONCEPTUAL MODEL THAT WILL BE TESTED PROPOSES THAT UNDER SEM FRamework, THEY ARE DISTINCT ANALYSES AND dif- WOMEN WHOSE PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ARE FRUSTRATED WILL en- FER IN TWO WAys: Path ANALYSIS EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIPS DORSE MORE PROBLEMATIC SOCIETAL IDEALS ABOUT THINNESS AND BETWEEN OBSERVED variables, NOT LATENT variables, AND DOES OBESITY THAN WOMEN WHOSE PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ARE satis- NOT ALLOCATE ADDITIONAL ERROR TO THE PATH COEfficient, SINCE IT fied. Need FRUSTRATION WILL ALSO BE PREDICTIVE OF INflEXIBLE ASSUMES THAT THERE ARE NO ERRORS IN HOW VARIABLES OF inter- BODY SCHEMAS AND BULIMIC symptoms, SINCE NEED FRUSTRa- EST ARE DEfiNED OR measured, WHICH IS SIMILAR TO regression. TION HAS BEEN SHOWN TO LEAD TO BODY IMAGE DISTURBANCE AND Although PATH ANALYSIS CAN BE UTILIZED TO EVALUATE var- PATHOLOGICAL EATING BEHAVIORS (Boone, Vansteenkiste, Soe- IOUS TYPES OF CONCEPTUAL models, IT IS BEST TO ADOPT AN nens, VAN DER Kaap-Deeder, & Verstuyf, 2014). This MODEL A PRIORI CONCEPTUAL model-testing FRamework, AS IT IS de- ALSO PROPOSES THAT HIGHER ENDORSEMENT OF SOCIETAL BELIEFS SIGNED TO TEST AND CAPTURE MULTIPLE COMPLEX “CAUSAL” re- ABOUT THINNESS AND OBESITY WILL BE PREDICTIVE OF HEIGHTENED LATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES OF interest. Path ANALYSIS IS INflEXIBLE BODY SCHEMAS and, ON ITS own, WILL BE PREDICTIVE A PRIORI ESPECIALLY USEFUL TO COMPARE MODELS AGAINST “GOLD OF BULIMIC symptoms. STANDARD” MODELS BECAUSE THEY CAN ADD TO CURRENT exist- This TUTORIAL WILL GUIDE READERS THROUGH THE CODING pro- ING models, A NEW CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE PHENOMENON CEDURES AND TECHNIQUES FOR GENERATING AND EVALUATING 1) CAN BE proposed, OR EXISTING THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK CAN BE A PATH MODEL AND MODEL SPECIfication, 2) MODEL fit, AND 3) tested. Path ANALYSIS MODELS REPRESENT processes, IN WHICH DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS IN PATH models. RESEARCHERS PROPOSE HOW VARIABLES ARE correlated. Thus, Mplus RESEARCHERS PROPOSE THE MECHANISMS THAT LEAD TO MANY ob- SERVABLE phenomena, WHICH IS BETTER APPROACHED BY PATH Since MODELLING techniques, SUCH AS SEM, HAVE BECOME ANALYSIS THAN BY MULTIPLE regression, SINCE PATH ANALYSIS MORE WIDELY used, MANY STATISTICAL PACKAGES HAVE BEEN CAN GENERATE MANY INDICES OF BEST fiT THAT CAN BE USED TO CREATED TO EMPLOY THESE techniques. Mplus (Muth´EN & COMPARE MULTIPLE MODELS FOR A SINGLE dataset. Muth´en, 2010) IS A SUITABLE PROGRAM FOR CONDUCTING ALL SEM A In THIS tutorial, PATH ANALYSIS WILL BE USED TO TEST AN TECHNIQUES AND IS A HIGHLY flEXIBLE PROGRam, SUCH THAT USERS PRIORI MODEL THAT IS BASED ON THEORETICAL FRamework, Self- CAN PERFORM ANY SEM TECHNIQUE BY EITHER MANUALLY in- Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), A LEADING PUTTING code, USING A LANGUAGE GENERATOR TO INPUT code, OR THEORY IN HUMAN motivation, IN Mplus (Muth´EN & Muth´en, CONSTRUCTING A DIAGRAM OF THE PROPOSED model. FOR ex- 2010). This CONCEPTUAL MODEL WILL BE APPLYING SDT TO exam- ample, Mplus HAS TWO POSSIBLE interfaces: A DIAGRAMMER INE KEY PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL DETERMINANTS OF bu- (a VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE MODEL THAT CAN BE CREATED LIMIC SYMPTOMS IN YOUNG ADULT women. More SPECIfiCALLY, BY DRAWING THE MODEL VIA DROP DOWN TABS OF ILLUSTRATION THE RESEARCHERS WILL BE EXAMINING HOW THE FULfiLLMENT (sat- options) OR SYNTAX (code-based OR USING THE LANGUAGE gen- isfaction) AND DEPLETION (frustration) OF ESSENTIAL psycho- ERATOR DROP DOWN TABS TO BEGIN CODING SYNTAX TO gener- LOGICAL resources, OR PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS (e.g., FOR auton- ATE THE model). Often, BOTH INTERFACES ARE USED simulta- OMY, competence, AND relatedness), MAY DIFFERENTIALLY pre- NEOUSLY, SUCH THAT THE DIAGRAM OF THE MODEL CAN BE re- DICT BULIMIC SYMPTOMS IN WOMEN THROUGH TWO KEY medi- QUESTED THROUGH A drop-down TAB ON THE SYNTAX INTERFACE ators, ENDORSEMENT OF SOCIETY’S BELIEFS ABOUT THINNESS AND AS THE MODEL IS BEING estimated. Furthermore, Mplus al- OBESITY AND BODY INflEXIBILITY. ACCORDING TO SDT, psycho- LOWS USERS TO CHOOSE VARIOUS TECHNIQUES FOR MODEL estima- LOGICAL NEEDS ARE UNIVERSAL ESSENTIAL nutriments, WHICH af- tion, WHICH CAN BE EMPLOYED simultaneously; however, THIS FECT AN INDIVIDUAL’S ABILITY TO self-regulate AND COPE WITH PROGRAM IS COSTLY, LIKE MANY OTHER LICENSED STATISTICAL pack- EVERYDAY LIFE DEMANDS AND MAY RENDER INDIVIDUALS vulner- ages, AND IS NOT READILY COMPATIBLE WITH SPSS. Other statis- ABLE TO ill-being IF THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ARE FRUSTRATED TICAL packages, SUCH AS AMOS (IBM Corp., 2011) OR R (R Core (VANSTEENKISTE & Ryan, 2013). Need FRUSTRATION MAY BE Team, 2018), ARE CAPABLE OF EMPLOYING SEM techniques, MORE PSYCHOLOGICALLY DEPLETING THAN LACK OF NEED satisfac- SUCH AS PATH analysis; however, AMOS IS THE MOST HIGHLY tion, SINCE FRUSTRATION MAY BE CAUSED BY AN ENVIRONMENT USED DUE TO ITS WIDESPREAD AVAILABILITY, HIGH COMPATIBILITY THAT IS DIRECTLY IMPEDING THE SATISFACTION OF THESE NEEDS WITH SPSS, AND ITS DIAGRAMMING interface. One DRAWBACK and, thus, MAY BE PERCEIVED AS MORE controlling. Individ- OF AMOS IS ITS INABILITY TO DEAL WITH non-normal DATA uti- T Q M P HE UANTITATIVE ETHODS FOR SYCHOLOGY 39 2 ¦ 2019 Vol. 15 no. 1 LIZING ROBUST MODEL ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES (view Savalei, sis; therefore, bidirectional/recursive RELATIONSHIPS CANNOT 2014, FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ROBUST TECHNIQUES com- BE EXAMINED OR inferred. MONLY USED IN SEM FOR non-normal
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