Multiplicity Control in Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

Researchers conducting structural equation modeling analyses rarely, if ever, control for the inflated probability of Type I errors when evaluating the statistical significance of multiple parameters in a model. In this study, the Type I error control, power and true model rates of famsilywise and false discovery rate controlling procedures were compared with rates when no multiplicity control was imposed. The results indicate that Type I error rates become severely inflated with no multiplicity control, but also that familywise error controlling procedures were extremely conservative and had very little power for detecting true relations. False discovery rate controlling procedures provided a compromise between no multiplicity control and strict familywise error control and with large sample sizes provided a high probability of making correct inferences regarding all the parameters in the model.