Commentary: Are Three Waves of Data Sufficient for Assessing Mediation?

Maxwell, Cole, and Mitchell (2011) demonstrated that simple structural equation models, when used with cross-sectional data, generally produce biased estimates of meditated effects. I extend those results by showing how simple structural equation models can produce biased estimates of meditated effects when used even with longitudinal data. Even with longitudinal data, simple autoregressive structural equation models can imply the existence of indirect effects when only direct effects exist and the existence of direct effects when only indirect effects exist.

BrainSTARS: pilot data on a team-based intervention program for students who have acquired brain injury.

Unlabelled: To conduct and evaluate an educational/consultation program for parents and teachers of children who have acquired brain injury (ABI).

Participants: Parents, regular and special educators, and related school personnel of 30 students who had ABI and serious school problems.

Intervention: BrainSTARS (Brain Injury: Strategies for Teams and Re-education for Students), an individualized consultation program that includes a comprehensive manual on pediatric ABI.

The principle of parallelism in the design of studies to estimate treatment effects.

An effect is a function of a cause as well as of 4 other factors: recipient, setting, time, and outcome variable. The principle of parallelism states that if a design option exists for any 1 of these 4 factors, a parallel option exists for each of the others. For example, effects are often estimated by drawing a comparison across recipients who receive different treatments.

The relationship between mothers' child abuse potential and current mental health symptoms: implications for screening and referral.

This analysis examined data from mothers at 2 of the 9 sites participating in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) national Women Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study (WCDVS). According to previous literature, it was hypothesized that women in the WCDVS would be at high risk of perpetrating child abuse. This research examined mothers' potential for physical child abuse and assessed the association between child abuse potential, current mental health symptoms, alcohol and drug use severity, and trauma.

The priority of just-identified, recursive models.

Theories often place constraints on causal relationships, and such constraints are often assessed with causal models. Causal models should be recursive and just identified because cause is recursive and is more likely to be just identified than overidentified. A just-identified, recursive model (JIRM) is specified that satisfies both requirements and that can be used to assess a wide range of causal implications in either a norm-referenced or criterion-referenced manner.