Beta coefficient into effect size PreviousNext
Mplus Discussion > Growth Modeling of Longitudinal Data >
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 Johnny Wu posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 - 12:48 pm
Hi Dr Muthen,

I run an LGM, and have i and s factors.

I regress s ON covariate x.

Now I report the beta coefficient, and the p-value. But the reviewers want to know the "effect size."

How can I convert a regression beta coefficient into an "effect size" measure?

-thank you, johnnywu
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 - 5:09 pm
Effect size typically refers to a difference in means for 2 groups, divided by the variable's SD.

Perhaps your covariate x is a dichotomous variable representing 2 groups. In this case you can compute the estimated mean of s for each group and divide by the square root of the estimated variance of s. Alternatively, you can compute the estimated mean of the observed outcome for the 2 x groups and divide by the outcome SD.

See also the standard literature on effect size, including Cohen's writings.
 H Priess posted on Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 3:00 pm
As noted above, effect size often refers to the difference in two groups' means, divided by SD. In the case of latent growth models with binary predictors (e.g., gender), could one use the standardized coefficient "StdY" as a measure of effect size (provided predictor was coded 0,1 so that the coefficient was equal to the group difference), or is this not an equivalent calculation?
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 4:45 pm
So the DV is a growth factor like "i" centered at a certain time point, where StdY makes this DV have SD=1 so the slope on gender is the effect size because it is the mean difference wrt gender in i divided by its SD? Makes sense.
 Sylvana Robbers posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - 4:57 am
Hello,
I want to know effect sizes in a multigroup LGM (twins versus singletons) with a binary predictor (gender, coded 0,1), but unfortunately Bengt's last post (4.45pm) is too cryptic for me. The influence of gender on the intercept is significant in twins and not in singletons. This could be a power issue, given the smaller sample size for the singleton sample. Could you please clarify how I can use the standardized beta coefficient to check if the effect sizes for sex differences are indeed greater in the twin than in the singleton sample?

Thanks in advance for your time.
 Linda K. Muthen posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - 10:29 am
In the case of a binary covariate, effect size is beta divided by the standard deviation of y.
 Daniel Rodriguez posted on Friday, February 11, 2011 - 8:03 am
Hi,
What if it's just one group and an effect sizes is needed for the effect of a continuous variable on intercept and slope? For instance, I'm in the midst of preparing a Montecarlo model for a simple LGCM with time invariant and time varying covariates. Now, I will be assessing the effects of various continuous predictors on the level and trend factors. I need to select values for my slopes and those values should correspond to some measure of effect. In this case my dependent variable is caloric intake (continuous variable) measured at three time points. One of my predictors is a measure of anxiety (also continuous). If I want to assume a medium effect based on the Cohen's criterion, how would I determine the start value for my slope? I'd appreciate any guidance you could give.
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Friday, February 11, 2011 - 10:18 am
Perhaps you can think in terms of how many standard deviations the i and s change as a function of one standard deviation change in the covariate. For instance, a small effect might be that s changes 0.25 SD units.

With growth, there is a choice in what the DV should be - for instance, should it be s or should it be y_t at the last time point? The y_t DV has a difference variance than s, and therefore the effect on y_t is different than the effect on s. The effect on y_t is perhaps more a more tangible concept.
 Daniel Rodriguez posted on Friday, February 11, 2011 - 11:41 am
Yes, thank you very much. This is helpful.
sincerely,
DR
 Justin D. Smith, Ph.D. posted on Friday, October 07, 2011 - 1:36 pm
I need to calculate an effect size for an indirect effect. All the variables in the model are continuous. ???
 Linda K. Muthen posted on Saturday, October 08, 2011 - 3:03 pm
Effect size usually refers to two groups so is more appropriate for a binary x. For a continuous x, you can use StdYX which would give you an effect size for a one unit standard deviation of x.
 Annie Desrosiers posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 11:48 am
Hi Dr Muthen,

I'm running an LGM for a treatment group effect on 5 times.

Is it possible to test the effect of the group (0 or 1), the effect of another covariate and their interaction in the same model ? And is it possible to have the effect sizes of the 2 mains effect and the effect size of the interaction ?

thank you
 Linda K. Muthen posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2012 - 10:28 am
Yes to the first question. For the second, you may find the following paper helpful:

Preacher, K.J., Rucker, D.D., & Hayes, A.F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42, 185-227.
 Sarah Lowe posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 - 7:40 am
Hi!

I am working on a revision, and the Editor would like an indicator of effect size for cross-lagged paths. My co-authors and I have already provided standardized (stdYX) coefficients and 95% CIs, but it seems like the Editor wants something more.

His suggestion was to 1) run the model with and without each cross-lagged path, 2) calculate the change in R2 for the DV, and 3) convert to an F statistic.

At first, this sounded OK to me, but then I ran the models and noted that some of the R2s were actually *larger* with the (non-significant) cross-lagged path excluded (e.g., .57 with the path, .53 without the path), meaning that the addition of the path was associated with a -R2.

This has me questioning whether this approach to estimating effect size makes sense. I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

Thank you!!
Sarah
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 - 12:15 pm
It doesn't sound like the editor's suggestion as you describe it makes sense because when you leave out significant cross-lagged paths the model becomes mis-specified and its estimates are of unknown value. I think standardized CIs make more sense.
 Sarah Lowe posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 - 12:39 pm
Thanks - I appreciate your help!
- Sarah
 Mary M Mitchell posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 - 8:17 am
Reviewers for a paper want me to calculate effect sizes for the standardized estimates that I got from doing an SEM model with an endogenous factor that has 6 categorical indicator variables. How would I do this? Is it possible? Thanks!
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 - 6:26 pm
I don't know how effect size comes into play here. That has to do with differences between groups. Perhaps you want to describe this on SEMNET.
 Anna Lee posted on Thursday, March 29, 2018 - 2:28 pm
Hi Drs. Muthen, I have a cross-lagged model with logistic, poisson, and OLS paths. My variables both appear to be continuous, but one is discrete with multiple categories. I'd like to calculate an effect size for all three paths, but this question specifically refers to the OLS paths. Can you advise me on how to calculate an effect size for these paths? I'm wondering if I should use the STDYX function to calculate the linear regression of y on x (pg. 641 of Mplus User's Guide) - and if so, what I should report for the effect size (i.e. beta values? r-squared?

Thank you,
Anna
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Friday, March 30, 2018 - 1:47 pm
Effect size means different things for logistic and poisson DVs. I am not sure it has been used much in that area. You would express effects in terms of probabilities. You may want to ask on SEMNET.
 Alaine Garmendia posted on Thursday, June 07, 2018 - 2:54 am
Dear Dr. Muthen,
I have a two-wave bivariate cross lagged analysis including also some control variables. The reviewer asked me to calculate to effect sizes. Is there any option to calculate them from the Beta estimates of the results?
Thank you very much in advance
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Thursday, June 07, 2018 - 4:17 pm
No such option - and it isn't clear what one should mean by effects size: Effect of what on what?
 Alaine Garmendia posted on Monday, June 11, 2018 - 7:14 am
They want more standard measures than the betas. They would like to know the effect that the first wave variable (considered as the cause) has on the second wave variable (considered the effect) having controlled the stability (auto-regressive effects) and the control variables.
I was thinking to report R square values including the cross-lagged relationships and without them, in order to demonstrate the variance explained when the cause is included in the model? Would it make sense?
Thank you again!
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Monday, June 11, 2018 - 5:43 pm
This general analysis question is suitable for SEMNET.
 Margarita  posted on Monday, December 17, 2018 - 5:22 am
Hi Dr. Muthen,

Following Tymms (2004) formula for a binary level 2 predictor d = b/SD, would that be the unstandardized beta within mplus? Tymms has the greek beta in his formula (β), which is a bit confusing because that indicates standardized, but it doesn't make much sense. For effect sizes within multilevel, would you suggest using the STDY or raw coefficients from mplus?

Thank you,
Margarita
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Monday, December 17, 2018 - 4:48 pm
d = b/SD suggests that the standardization is with respect to the SD of the DV so that would be Mplus STDY.

Regarding effect sizes for multilevel, recommend consulting SEMNET.
 Margarita  posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - 1:19 am
Makes sense. Thank you, and a lovely Christmas holiday to the Mplus team!
 Diana Ribeiro da Silva posted on Friday, October 02, 2020 - 10:24 am
Dear Linda & Bengt,
I am working on a LGCM to test the intervention effects of a psychotherapeutic program on several outcome measures. We have a conditional model where the control group was coded as 0 and the treatment group as 1 (i.e., binary predictor). The continuous DVs were assessed at three equidistant time points.
I solved some problems regarding the non-pos def warning with the advices of Bengt (thank you so much again) and I am wondering how can I calculate the effect sizes. I checked the post of both H. Priess and Bengt Muthen on June o4, 2009 and I have three questions:
Q1 – Can I use the Stdy value reported in the “estimate” column regarding the slope on condition as a value of the effect size?
Q2 – If so, I should interpret this value following the cut-off values of Cohen´s d?
Q3 – If not, can I use the estimated means and estimated errors in to compute Cohen´s d?

Thanks in advance
Diana
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Friday, October 02, 2020 - 4:11 pm
Take a look at

Feingold, A. (2018). Time-varying effect sizes for quadratic growth models in multilevel and latent growth modeling. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal. DOI: 10.1080/10705511.2018.1547110

Feingold, A. (2019). New approaches for estimation of effect sizes and their con1dence intervals for treatment effects from randomized controlled trials. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 15:2, 96-111. DOI: 10.20982/tqmp.15.2.p096

See also the Growth Model section of the article on our website:

Muthén, L.K. & Muthén, B.O. (2002). How to use a Monte Carlo study to decide on sample size and determine power. Structural Equation Modeling, 4, 599-620. Mplus inputs and outputs used in this paper can be viewed and/or downloaded from the Examples page.
download paper contact first author show abstract
 Diana Ribeiro da Silva posted on Sunday, October 04, 2020 - 11:34 am
Thank you

That is very helpful
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