Dependent variable is observed not la... PreviousNext
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 Argenfels posted on Thursday, April 03, 2014 - 2:06 am
I am new to SEM so please bear with me if my question is very basic. I have begun using SEM and now have several datasets with latent variables which each have 3-4 items. However, I also have several single observed variables and I am wondering whether I can use these as dependent variables in SEM or not.

I am under the impression that in SEM structural models dependent variables have to be latent variables. Is that correct?

These are the types of variables that I am wondering to use as dependent variables:

1) A single Likert Scale variable.

2) A normally distributed count variables.

3) A non-normally distributed count variable (with a large number of 0 counts and then a normal distribution centering around a count of 3)

Many thanks in advance
Argen
 Linda K. Muthen posted on Thursday, April 03, 2014 - 6:17 am
Latent and observed dependent variables can be used together in SEM. Observed variables in Mplus can be continuous, censored, binary, ordered categorical, nominal, and count.
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