The detection of outliers and influential observations is routine practice in linear regression. Despite ongoing extensions and development of case diagnostics in structural equation models (SEM), their application has received limited attention and understanding in practice. The use of case diagnostics informs analysts of the uncertainty of model…

Maxwell and Cole (2007) showed that cross-sectional approaches to mediation typically generate substantially biased estimates of longitudinal parameters in the special case of complete mediation. However, their results did not apply to the more typical case of partial mediation. We extend their previous work by showing that substantial bias can…

Fitting propensity (FP) is defined as a model's average ability to fit diverse data patterns, all else being equal. The relevance of FP to model selection is examined in the context of structural equation modeling (SEM). In SEM it is well known that the number of free model parameters influences FP, but other facets of FP are routinely excluded…

Structural equation modelling is becoming increasingly popular in education. This article examines and compares a number of alternative assumptions governing nondirected paths in structural equation models without latent variables vis-a-vis a data set on lung ventilation. Some problems with the conventional procedures in path analysis are pointed…

Makes the case that hierarchical linear models or longitudinal multilevel models are a better alternative than standard regression models for empirical tests of predictive developmental hypotheses. Describes a multivariate longitudinal model linking developmental data to a criterion and presents an example from a study of the prediction of infant…