On the importance of temporal precedence in mediational analyses
Abstract
This response to the commentary by Gaynor (in press) (a) underscores the importance of defining terms (predictor, moderator, and mediator variables) used in psychological treatment outcome research, (b) notes the improvements in mediation analyses using treatment of youth anxiety as the illustration, and (c) encourages continued advancement in the methodology for mediation analyses. We agree with Gaynor (in press) both on the importance of temporal precedence and on the use of cautious language with regard to interpreting mediational analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
To establish temporal precedence, potential mediators and outcomes need to be measured more frequently during the intervention and these numerous assessment points used in the data analysis.
“Therefore, to establish temporal precedence, we need to measure potential mediators and outcomes more frequently during the intervention and use these numerous assessment points in the data analysis (Kazdin, 2007; Kendall et al., 2017).”
From Distress tolerance as a mediator of mindfulness-based intervention for anxiety and depression: Evidence from two randomized controlled trials (2024) · cites this paper as Kendall et al., 2017
Establishing temporal precedence is crucial in discerning whether the mediator is a cause or an effect of changes in symptomatology.
“It's important to note that establishing temporal precedence is crucial in discerning whether the mediator is a cause or an effect of changes in symptomatology, a consideration often overlooked in clinical studies (Kazdin, 2007; Kendall et al., 2017).”
From Distress tolerance as a mediator of mindfulness-based intervention for anxiety and depression: Evidence from two randomized controlled trials (2024) · cites this paper as Kendall et al., 2017
Cites
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.51.6.1173 · Cited by 91,542 · see citing works
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/brm.40.3.879 · Cited by 34,117 · see citing works
Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models
Sobel, M. E. (1982) · Sociological Methodology · doi:10.2307/270723 · Cited by 12,810 · see citing works
A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G., & Sheets, V. (2002) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.7.1.83 · Cited by 9,406 · see citing works
Confidence Limits for the Indirect Effect: Distribution of the Product and Resampling Methods
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., & Williams, J. (2004) · Multivariate Behavioral Research · doi:10.1207/s15327906mbr3901_4 · Cited by 7,806 · see citing works
Holmbeck, G. N. (1997) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.65.4.599 · Cited by 2,956 · see citing works
Mediators and Moderators of Treatment Effects in Randomized Clinical Trials
Kraemer, H. C., Wilson, G. T., Fairburn, C. G., & Agras, W. S. (2002) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.59.10.877 · Cited by 2,562 · see citing works
Mediators and Mechanisms of Change in Psychotherapy Research
Kazdin, A. E. (2007) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091432 · Cited by 2,504 · see citing works
Strategy of outcome research in psychotherapy.
Paul, G. L. (1967) · Journal of Consulting Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0024436 · Cited by 1,043 · see citing works
Some myths of psychotherapy research and the search for a paradigm.
Kiesler, D. J. (1966) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/h0022911 · Cited by 735 · see citing works
Empirical and clinical focus of child and adolescent psychotherapy research.
Kazdin, A. E., Bass, D. C., Ayers, W. A., & Rodgers, A. Y. (1990) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.58.6.729 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
Methodology, design, and evaluation in psychotherapy research.
Kazdin, A. E. (1994) · Cited by 335 · see citing works
Treadwell, K. R. H., & Kendall, P. C. (1996) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.64.5.941 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Self-citationMechanisms of action in youth psychotherapy
Weersing, V. R., & Weisz, J. R. (2002) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00002 · Cited by 224 · see citing works
Changing the Way We Study Change in Psychotherapy
Doss, B. (2004) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.bph094 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
The role of self-statements as a mediator in treatment for youth with anxiety disorders.
Kendall, P. C., & Treadwell, K. R. H. (2007) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.75.3.380 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Self-citationEffectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral treatment for childhood anxiety in community clinics
Lau, W.-Y., Chan, C. K. Y., Li, J. C.-H., & Au, T. K.-F. (2010) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2010.07.007 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Mediators of change in the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Treatment Study.
Kendall, P. C., Cummings, C. M., Villabø, M. A., Narayanan, M. K., Treadwell, K., Birmaher, B., Compton, S., Piacentini, J., Sherrill, J., Walkup, J., et al. (2016) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0039773 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Self-citationMaric, M., Wiers, R. W., & Prins, P. J. M. (2012) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-012-0114-y · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Hogendoorn, S. M., Prins, P. J. M., Boer, F., Vervoort, L., Wolters, L. H., Moorlag, H., Nauta, M. H., Garst, H., Hartman, C. A., & de Haan, E. (2013) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2013.807736 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Mediators and Moderators of Outcome in the Behavioral Treatment of Childhood Social Phobia
Alfano, C. A., Piña, A., Villalta, I. K., Beidel, D. C., Ammerman, R. T., & Crosby, L. E. (2009) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/chi.0b013e3181af8216 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Cognitive mediation of cognitive-behavioural therapy outcomes for anxiety-based school refusal
Maric, M., Heyne, D. A., MacKinnon, D. P., van Widenfelt, B. M., & Westenberg, P. M. (2013) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465812000756 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Gaynor, S. T. (2017) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000108 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Silverman, W. K., Marin, C. E., Rey, Y., Kurtines, W. M., Jaccard, J. J., & Pettit, J. W. (2019) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702619830404 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Kloos, N., Austin, J., van ‘t Klooster, J.-W., Drossaert, C., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2022) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-022-00586-3 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
The Next Generation of Quality Indicators for Group Design Research in Special Education
Toste, J. R., Logan, J. A. R., Shogren, K. A., & Boyd, B. A. (2023) · Exceptional Children · doi:10.1177/00144029221150801 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Garfin, D. R., Zernick, M. V., & Wong‐Parodi, G. (2024) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-023-03658-2 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Socioeconomic Risk for Adolescent Cognitive Control and Emerging Risk‐Taking Behaviors
Brieant, A. E., Peviani, K. M., Lee, J. E., King‐Casas, B., & Kim‐Spoon, J. (2020) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/jora.12583 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Li, Y., He, M., Wang, Z., Hofmann, S. G., & Liu, X. (2024) · International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100445 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Xu, S., Coffman, D. L., Luta, G., & NIAURA, R. S. (2023) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0001299 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Future Directions for the Examination of Mediators of Treatment Outcomes in Youth
Carper, M. M., Makover, H. B., & Kendall, P. C. (2017) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2017.1359786 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationWhite, B. A., Dede, B., Heilman, M. E., Revilla, R., Lochman, J. E., Hudac, C. M., Bui, C., & White, S. W. (2022) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2022.2056895 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Fors, M., Öberg, B. E., Lindbäck, Y., Enthoven, P., & Abbott, A. D. (2020) · Clinical Journal of Pain · doi:10.1097/ajp.0000000000000901 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Aboagye, A. K., Dai, B., & Bakpa, E. K. (2020) · Evaluation & the Health Professions · doi:10.1177/0163278720975071 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Livingston, T. N., Vik, T. A., & Singer, J. (2022) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/00332941221137243 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Pinto, B. M., DUNSIGER, S. I., Kindred, M. M., & Mitchell, S. (2023) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-023-00402-0 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Social power may be associated with health through positive emotion
Livingston, T. N., Cummings, C., & Singer, J. (2023) · The Journal of General Psychology · doi:10.1080/00221309.2023.2261135 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Bohlmeijer, E. T., Kraiss, J. T., Schotanus-Dijkstra, M., & ten Klooster, P. M. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.799447 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Fabrikant-Abzug, G., Friedman, L. M., & Pfiffner, L. J. (2023) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-023-10023-1 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Mediators of youth anxiety outcomes 3 to 12 years after treatment
Makover, H. B., Kendall, P. C., Olino, T. M., Carper, M. M., Albano, A. M., Piacentini, J. C., Peris, T. S., Langley, A. K., González, A., Ginsburg, G. S., et al. (2020) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102188 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citationNiu, X., Sanders, K. E. G., Denis, D., Cunningham, T. J., Zhang, G., Kensinger, E. A., & Payne, J. D. (2025) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115932 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Psychosocial Treatments That “Work” for Ethnic Minority Youth
Holly, L. E., Stoll, R. D., Rapp, A. M., Piña, A., & Chavira, D. A. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190634841.013.10 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Social Power and Mate Attraction in Short-Term and Long-Term Relationships
Livingston, T. N., & Burns, A. M. (2024) · Sexes · doi:10.3390/sexes5040033 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Lee, T., & Molina, L. E. (2021) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci10080308
Drzewa i krzewy w remizach oraz podszytach. Kompleksowo-ogniskowa metoda biologicznej ochrony lasu
Burzyński, J. (1999) · Głos Lasu
Xu, S., Coffman, D. L., Luta, G., Mai, A.-D., Jiang, N., & Niaura, R. (2024) · Addictive Behaviours · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2024.108204 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Jin, J., Chen, D., He, M., Hu, A., Hofmann, S. G., & Liu, X. (2026) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.70304
Systems genetics analysis reveals immune mediators of coronavirus disease severity in mice
Risemberg, E. L., Leist, S. R., Schäfer, A., Kamat, K. D., Bell, T. A., Hock, P., Jensen, K., Linnertz, C. L., Miller, D. R., Shaw, G. D., et al. (2026) · Genetics · doi:10.1093/genetics/iyag209
- Authors
- Kendall, P. C., Olino, T. M., Carper, M., & Makover, H.
- Venue
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
- Published
- 2017
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 80-82
- ISSN
- 0022-006X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-2117
- OpenAlex
- W2561996920
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Keywords
- temporal precedence, mediation analysis, mediators, moderators, predictor variables, youth anxiety, psychotherapy outcome, causal inference
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Humans
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review