Explaining General and Specific Factors in Longitudinal, Multimethod, and Bifactor Models: Some Caveats and Recommendations
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Authors
An increasing number of psychological studies are devoted to the analysis of g-factor structures. One key purpose of applying g-factor models is to identify predictors or potential causes of the general and specific effects. Typically, researchers relate predictor variables directly to the general and specific factors using a classical mimic approach. However, this procedure bears some methodological challenges, which often lead to model misspecification and biased parameter estimates. We propose 2 possible modeling strategies to circumvent these problems: the multiconstruct bifactor and the residual approach. We illustrate both modeling approaches for the application of g-factor models to longitudinal and multitrait-multimethod data. Practical guidelines are provided for choosing an appropriate method in empirical applications, and the implications of this investigation for multimethod and longitudinal research are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Psychological Methods |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 3 |
Pages (from-to) | 505-523 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISSN | 1082-989X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 09.2018 |
- Psychology
- Bifactor models, CTC(M-1) model, G-factor models, Latent state-trait models, MIMIC models