Dynamic Structural Equation Models

Abstract

This article presents dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM), which can be used to study the evolution of observed and latent variables as well as the structural equation models over time. DSEM is suitable for analyzing intensive longitudinal data where observations from multiple individuals are collected at many points in time. The modeling framework encompasses previously published DSEM models and is a comprehensive attempt to combine time-series modeling with structural equation modeling. DSEM is estimated with Bayesian methods using the Markov chain Monte Carlo Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis–Hastings sampler. We provide a detailed description of the estimation algorithm as implemented in the Mplus software package. DSEM can be used for longitudinal analysis of any duration and with any number of observations across time. Simulation studies are used to illustrate the framework and study the performance of the estimation method. Methods for evaluating model fit are also discussed.