Cross-Sectional Analysis of Longitudinal Mediation Processes
Abstract
Statistical mediation analysis can help to identify and explain the mechanisms behind psychological processes. Examining a set of variables for mediation effects is a ubiquitous process in the social sciences literature; however, despite evidence suggesting that cross-sectional data can misrepresent the mediation of longitudinal processes, cross-sectional analyses continue to be used in this manner. Alternative longitudinal mediation models, including those rooted in a structural equation modeling framework (cross-lagged panel, latent growth curve, and latent difference score models) are currently available and may provide a better representation of mediation processes for longitudinal data. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, we provide a comparison of cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation models; second, we advocate using models to evaluate mediation effects that capture the temporal sequence of the process under study. Two separate empirical examples are presented to illustrate differences in the conclusions drawn from cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation analyses. Findings from these examples yielded substantial differences in interpretations between the cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation models considered here. Based on these observations, researchers should use caution when attempting to use cross-sectional data in place of longitudinal data for mediation analyses.
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The cross-sectional design of this study hinders inferences about causality, which is especially problematic with mediation analyses as mediation is thought of as a process occurring over time.
“The first limitation of this study is the cross-sectional design, which hinders inferences about causality-something that can be especially problematic with mediation analyses as mediation is thought of as a process occurring over time (O'Laughlin, Martin, and Ferrer 2018).”
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- Authors
- O'Laughlin, K. D., Martin, M. J., & Ferrer, E.
- Affiliations
- Department of Psychology, University of California
- Texas Tech University (US)
- Venue
- Multivariate Behavioral Research
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-04-06
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 375-402
- ISSN
- 0027-3171 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7906
- OpenAlex
- W2795975046
- Cited by
- 475
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 88 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 75 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 20.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Multivariate Behavioral Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- mediation analysis, longitudinal mediation, cross-lagged panel model, latent growth curve models, latent difference score models, mediation effect estimation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Psychology, Adolescent, Affect, Cross-Sectional Studies, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Female, Hostility, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Maternal Behavior, Models, Psychological, Mothers, Motivation, Self Concept, Models, Statistical, Young Adult
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