Monte Carlo confidence intervals for the indirect effect with missing data.

Full-information maximum likelihood Indirect effect Mediation Missing at random Missing completely at random Monte Carlo method Multiple imputation Nonparametric bootstrap

Journal

Behavior research methods

ISSN: 1554-3528

Titre abrégé: Behav Res Methods

Pays: United States

ID NLM: 101244316

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
07 Aug 2023

Historique:

accepted: 21 03 2023

medline: 8 8 2023

pubmed: 8 8 2023

entrez: 7 8 2023

Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

Missing data is a common occurrence in mediation analysis. As a result, the methods used to construct confidence intervals around the indirect effect should consider missing data. Previous research has demonstrated that, for the indirect effect in data with complete cases, the Monte Carlo method performs as well as nonparametric bootstrap confidence intervals (see MacKinnon et al., Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39(1), 99-128, 2004; Preacher & Selig, Communication Methods and Measures, 6(2), 77-98, 2012; Tofighi & MacKinnon, Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 23(2), 194-205, 2015). In this manuscript, we propose a simple, fast, and accurate two-step approach for generating confidence intervals for the indirect effect, in the presence of missing data, based on the Monte Carlo method. In the first step, an appropriate method, for example, full-information maximum likelihood or multiple imputation, is used to estimate the parameters and their corresponding sampling variance-covariance matrix in a mediation model. In the second step, the sampling distribution of the indirect effect is simulated using estimates from the first step. A confidence interval is constructed from the resulting sampling distribution. A simulation study with various conditions is presented. Implications of the results for applied research are discussed.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02114-4 PMID: 37550469

pubmed: 37550469

doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02114-4

pii: 10.3758/s13428-023-02114-4

doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

Informations de copyright

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