Statistical Methods for Indirect/Mediated Effects

The analysis of mediated effects, or, more generally, indirect effects, reflect efforts to understand mechanisms -- presumably causal mechanisms. These mechanisms relate a predictor variable to an outcome variable via one or more mediators. Studies of indirect effects are common in both prevention research and developmental research. Methodological studies in recent years have primarily focused on the best means of testing for the presence of such mechanistic relations, including establishing appropriate confidence intervals for the estimate of the indirect effect, such as in Malone et al. (2010, June). Most of the papers below are applications of testing for indirect effects, including citations of cascade models, described with Longitudinal Statistical Methods.

Relevant Forthcoming, Recent, and Representative Presentations and Publications:

  • Flory, K., Malone, P. S., & Lamis, D. A. (2011). Childhood ADHD and risk for cigarette smoking during adolescence: School adjustment as a potential mediator. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25, 320-329. Abstract
  • Lamis, D. A., Malone, P. S., & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. (2011, April). Depressive symptoms and suicide ideation in U.S. and Japanese college students: Hopelessness as a potential mediator. Paper to be presented at the meeting of the American Association of Suicidology, Portland, OR.
  • Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Lamis, D. A., & Malone, P. S. (2011). Sexual attraction status and adolescent suicide proneness: The roles of hopelessness, depression, and social support. Journal of Homosexuality, 58, 52-82. Abstract
  • Lamis, D. A., & Malone, P. S. (2010, November). Alcohol-related problems and suicidal behavior among college students: Belongingness and burdensomeness as potential mediators. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Public Health Education, Denver, CO.
  • Malone, P. S., Lubansky, J. B., & Fairchild, A. J. (2010, July). Modeling mediation by a latent class variable. Paper presented at the meeting of the Psychometric Society, Athens, GA.
  • Malone, P. S., Lamont, A. E., & Fairchild, A. J. (2010, June). An initial study of methods for testing indirect effects with imputed data. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Denver, CO.
  • Lamis, D. A., Malone, P. S., & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. (2010). Involvement in intimate partner psychological abuse and suicide proneness in college women: Alcohol related problems as a potential mediator. Partner Abuse, 1, 169-185. PMCID: PMC2882695 Abstract
  • Lamis, D. A., Malone, P. S., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., & Ellis, T. E. (2010). Body investment, depression, and alcohol use as risk factors for suicide proneness in college students. Crisis, 31, 118-127. PMCID: PMC2892815 Abstract
  • Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Dodge, K. A., Chang, L., Chaudhary, N., Tapanya, S., Oburu, P., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2010). Children's perceptions of maternal hostility and rejection as mediators of the link between discipline and children's adjustment in five countries. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34, 452-461. PMCID: PMC2930492 Abstract
  • Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2010). Developmental cascades of peer rejection, social information processing biases, and aggression during middle childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 593-602. PMCID: PMC2892817 Abstract
  • Berlin, L. J., Ispa, J. M., Fine, M. A., Malone, P. S., Brooks-Gunn, J., Brady-Smith, C., Ayoub, C., & Bai, Y. (2009). Correlates and consequences of spanking and verbal punishment for low-income White, African American, and Mexican American toddlers. Child Development, 80, 1403-1420. PMCID: PMC2987237 Abstract
  • Dodge, K. A., Malone, P. S., Lansford, J. E., Miller, S., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2009). A dynamic cascade model of the development of substance-use onset. Society for Research in Child Development Monographs, 74, vii-120. Abstract
  • Dodge, K. A., Greenberg, M. T., Malone, P. S., & The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2008). Testing an idealized dynamic cascade model of the development of serious violence in adolescence. Child Development, 79, 1907-1927. PMCID: PMC2597335 Abstract

Updated June 26, 2011

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