Gaussian distributional structural equation models: A framework for modeling latent heteroscedasticity

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Fazio, Luna, Bürkner, Paul-Christian
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Fazio, Luna
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
author_facet Fazio, Luna
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
contents Accounting for the complexity of psychological theories requires methods that can predict not only changes in the means of latent variables -- such as personality factors, creativity, or intelligence -- but also changes in their variances. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is the framework of choice for analyzing complex relationships among latent variables, but the modeling of latent variances as a function of other latent variables is a task that current methods only support to a limited extent. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian framework for Gaussian distributional SEM which broadens the scope of feasible models for latent heteroscedasticity. We use statistical simulation to validate our framework across four distinct model structures, in which we demonstrate that reliable statistical inferences can be achieved and that computation can be performed with sufficient efficiency for practical everyday use. We illustrate our framework's applicability in a real-world case study that addresses a substantive hypothesis from personality psychology.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_14124
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Gaussian distributional structural equation models: A framework for modeling latent heteroscedasticity
Fazio, Luna
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
Methodology
Accounting for the complexity of psychological theories requires methods that can predict not only changes in the means of latent variables -- such as personality factors, creativity, or intelligence -- but also changes in their variances. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is the framework of choice for analyzing complex relationships among latent variables, but the modeling of latent variances as a function of other latent variables is a task that current methods only support to a limited extent. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian framework for Gaussian distributional SEM which broadens the scope of feasible models for latent heteroscedasticity. We use statistical simulation to validate our framework across four distinct model structures, in which we demonstrate that reliable statistical inferences can be achieved and that computation can be performed with sufficient efficiency for practical everyday use. We illustrate our framework's applicability in a real-world case study that addresses a substantive hypothesis from personality psychology.
title Gaussian distributional structural equation models: A framework for modeling latent heteroscedasticity
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.14124