JSM 2004 - Toronto

Abstract #301872

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Activity Number: 187
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Section on Statistical Computing
Abstract - #301872
Title: A Significance Test for Intervening Variable Effects
Author(s): Wei Pan*+
Companies: University of Cincinnati
Address: PO Box 210002, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0002,
Keywords: structural equation modeling ; indirect effects ; mediated effects ; intervening variables ; path analysis
Abstract:

The literature has shown enormous interest in intervening variable effects which are often termed indirect effects or mediated effects. However, the distribution of the intervening variable effects had been ignored and these effects were estimated without standard errors until Sobel (1982) derived an asymptotic distribution of the indirect effects; after that, the Sobel's test is commonplace in structural equation software and several modified Sobel's tests emerged. Unfortunately, the Sobel's and modified test techniques relied exclusively on large-sample approximations, which has been cause for some concern. The present study provides an alternative approach for establishing a significance test for the intervening variable effects. In this approach, the distribution of the intervening variable effects is more accurately derived through the application of Pan and Frank's (2004) distribution of the product of two dependent correlations. A simulation study is conducted to compare this alternative approach with the Sobel's and modified tests. This approach enables researchers to test the intervening variable effects with more confidence.

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