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Cited by 882

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 33 of the 33 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Structural Equation Modeling: Strengths, Limitations, and Misconceptions

Tomarken, Andrew J., Waller, Niels G.·2005·Annual Review of Clinical Psychology

Abstract

Because structural equation modeling (SEM) has become a very popular data-analytic technique, it is important for clinical scientists to have a balanced perception of its strengths and limitations. We review several strengths of SEM, with a particular focus on recent innovations (e.g., latent growth modeling, multilevel SEM models, and approaches for dealing with missing data and with violations of normality assumptions) that underscore how SEM has become a broad data-analytic framework with flexible and unique capabilities. We also consider several limitations of SEM and some misconceptions that it tends to elicit. Major themes emphasized are the problem of omitted variables, the importance of lower-order model components, potential limitations of models judged to be well fitting, the inaccuracy of some commonly used rules of thumb, and the importance of study design. Throughout, we offer recommendations for the conduct of SEM analyses and the reporting of results.

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Crossref · 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144239

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Metadata

Authors
Tomarken, A. J., & Waller, N. G.
Venue
Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
Published
2005-04-01
Volume
1
Issue
1
Pages
31-65
ISSN
  • 1548-5943 (ISSN-L)
  • 1548-5951
OpenAlex
W2112759395
Cited by
882
References
33
FWCI
8.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Structural Equation Modeling: Strengths, Limitations, and Misconceptions. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144239
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Tomarken, A. J., & Waller, N. G. (2005). Structural Equation Modeling: Strengths, Limitations, and Misconceptions. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144239

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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.