Cited by 2,918Mental Health Research TopicsPsychometric Methodologies and TestingFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies

A tutorial on regularized partial correlation networks

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Epskamp, Sacha, Fried, Eiko I.·2018·Psychological Methods

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Abstract

Recent years have seen an emergence of network modeling applied to moods, attitudes, and problems in the realm of psychology. In this framework, psychological variables are understood to directly affect each other rather than being caused by an unobserved latent entity. In this tutorial, we introduce the reader to estimating the most popular network model for psychological data: the partial correlation network. We describe how regularization techniques can be used to efficiently estimate a parsimonious and interpretable network structure in psychological data. We show how to perform these analyses in R and demonstrate the method in an empirical example on posttraumatic stress disorder data. In addition, we discuss the effect of the hyperparameter that needs to be manually set by the researcher, how to handle non-normal data, how to determine the required sample size for a network analysis, and provide a checklist with potential solutions for problems that can arise when estimating regularized partial correlation networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

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  • An L1-penalized regression was used to avoid estimating spurious relations among variables.

    “To avoid estimating spurious relations among variables, we needed some form of control that accounts for these false associations; to this end, we used an L1-penalized regression (Epskamp & Fried, 2018).”

    From Exploring the psychology of suicidal ideation: a theory driven network analysis. (2019) · cites this paper as Epskamp & Fried, 2018

  • The network was regulated using the graphic least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to avoid overfitting and to elevate interpretability of the network model structure.

    “Using the graphic least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) [ 51 ], the network was regulated to avoid overfitting and to elevate the interpretability of a network model structure.”

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Epskamp, S. (Ed.). (2017). Discussion: The road ahead. Network Psycho- metrics (Doctoral Dissertation). Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  2. Fisher, A. J., Reeves, J. W., Lawyer, G., Medaglia, J. D., & Rubel, J. A. (2017). Exploring the idiographic dynamics of mood and anxiety via network analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 1044 -1056.
  3. Forbes, M. K., Wright, A. G. C., Markon, K., & Krueger, R. (2017). Evidence that psychopathology symptom networks have limited repli- cability. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 969 -988.

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Authors
Epskamp, S., & Fried, E. I.
Affiliations
University of Amsterdam (NL)
Venue
Psychological Methods
Published
2018-12
Volume
23
Issue
4
Pages
617-634
ISSN
  • 1082-989X (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1463
OpenAlex
W2462099493
Cited by
2,918
References
125
Citations by year
2026: 591 · 2025: 566 · 2024: 471 · 2023: 373 · 2022: 283 · 2021: 264 · 2020: 187 · 2019: 109 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 7
FWCI
198.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychological Methods (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
  • UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Keywords
network modeling, psychological factors, regularization, hyperparameter optimization, non-normal data, sample size determination, post-traumatic stress disorder, network structure estimation, R implementation
MeSH terms
Data Interpretation, Statistical, Humans, Models, Psychological, Psychology, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Models, Statistical

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