Total-effect Test May Erroneously Reject So-called "Full" or "Complete" Mediation

doi:https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2309.08910

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	Total-effect Test May Erroneously Reject So-called "Full" or "Complete" Mediation
	Tingxuan Han 1; Luxi Zhang 2; Xinshu Zhao2 ; Ke Deng 1
	2023-09
Source Publication	arXiv
Abstract	The procedure for establishing mediation, i.e., determining that an independent variable X affects a dependent variable Y through some mediator M, has been under debate. The classic causal steps require that a "total effect" be significant, now also known as statistically acknowledged. It has been shown that the total-effect test can erroneously reject competitive mediation and is superfluous for establishing complementary mediation. Little is known about the last type, indirect-only mediation, aka "full" or "complete" mediation, in which the indirect (ab) path passes the statistical partition test while the direct-and-remainder (d) path fails. This study 1) provides proof that the total-effect test can erroneously reject indirect-only mediation, including both sub-types, assuming least square estimation (LSE) F-test or Sobel test; 2) provides a simulation to duplicate the mathematical proofs and extend the conclusion to LAD-Z test; 3) provides two real-data examples, one for each sub-type, to illustrate the mathematical conclusion; 4) in view of the mathematical findings, proposes to revisit concepts, theories, and techniques of mediation analysis and other causal dissection analyses, and showcase a more comprehensive alternative, process-and-product analysis (PAPA).
DOI	https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2309.08910
Fulltext Access	View Full-Text via DOI
Citation statistics
Document Type	Journal article
Collection	DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION
Affiliation	1.Tsinghua University 2.University of Macau
Recommended Citation GB/T 7714	Tingxuan Han,Luxi Zhang,Xinshu Zhao,et al. Total-effect Test May Erroneously Reject So-called "Full" or "Complete" Mediation[J]. arXiv, 2023.
APA	Tingxuan Han., Luxi Zhang., Xinshu Zhao., & Ke Deng (2023). Total-effect Test May Erroneously Reject So-called "Full" or "Complete" Mediation. arXiv.
MLA	Tingxuan Han,et al."Total-effect Test May Erroneously Reject So-called "Full" or "Complete" Mediation".arXiv (2023).

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