Structural Equation Modeling with Mplus

chapter 1

Structural Equation Models

The Basics

Structural tequation modeling (SEvaM) is a statistical methodology that takes a confirmatory (i.e., hypothesis-testing) approach to the analysis of a structural theory bearing on some phenomenon. Typically, this theory represents “causal” processes that generate observations on multiple variables (Bentler, 1988). The term structural equation modeling conveys two important aspects of the procedure: (a) that the causal processes under study are represented by a series of structural (i.e., regression) equations, and (b) that these structural relations can be modeled pictorially to enable a clearer conceptualization of the theory under study. The hypothesized model can then be tested statistically ...