This article considers models involving a single structural equation with latent explanatory and/or latent dependent variables where discrete items are used to measure the latent variables. Our primary focus is the use of scores as proxies for the latent variables and carrying out ordinary least squares (OLS) regression on such scores to estimate…

This article reviews the problems associated with using item response theory (IRT)-based latent variable scores for analytical modeling, discusses the connection between IRT and structural equation modeling (SEM)-based latent regression modeling for discrete data, and compares regression parameter estimates obtained using predicted IRT scores and…