Discovering Exceptional Development of Commitment in Interdisciplinary Study Programs: An Illustration of the SubgroupSEM Approach

In psychology and the social sciences, it is often of interest how complex structural relations among variables are moderated by profiles or combinations of persons' attributes. Some state-of-the-art methods, such as latent class analysis, are well-suited for this purpose. However, they can lea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zeitschrift für Psychologie 2023-02, Vol.231 (1), p.53-64
Main Authors: Kiefer, Christoph, Claus, Anna M., Jung, Alexander J., Wiese, Bettina S., Mayer, Axel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commitment
Educational Programs
Female
Higher Education
Human
Interdisciplinary Research
Latent Class Analysis
Machine Learning
Male
Social Sciences
Structural Equation Modeling
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Summary:In psychology and the social sciences, it is often of interest how complex structural relations among variables are moderated by profiles or combinations of persons' attributes. Some state-of-the-art methods, such as latent class analysis, are well-suited for this purpose. However, they can lead to methodological problems (e.g., convergence issues) or interpretative difficulties (e.g., due to nondistinctive profiles). For these cases, two other approaches combining structural equation modeling with machine learning have been proposed, namely structural equation model (SEM) trees and SubgroupSEM. These approaches allow for exploration of how parameters of a SEM differ depending on combinations of a person's attributes. This can be useful for generating hypotheses for future research. In this paper, we provide an empirical illustration of SubgroupSEM using an example from research on the development of commitment in interdisciplinary study programs in German higher education and identify combinations of vocational interests related to exceptional development.
ISSN:2190-8370
2151-2604
DOI:10.1027/2151-2604/a000512