Mplus Users Guide v6.. - Muthén & Muthén

CHAPTER 14MODEL g2: y1-y5 (2);MODEL g3: y1-y5;The overall MODEL command specifies the overall model for the threegroups as described above. Because there is no group-specific MODELcommand for g1, g1 uses the same model as that described in the overallMODEL command. The group-specific MODEL commands describethe differences between the overall model and the group-specificmodels. The group g2 uses the overall model with the exception that theone residual variance that is estimated is not constrained to be equal tothe other two groups. The group g3 uses the overall model with theexception that five residual variances not constrained to be equal to theother groups are estimated.MEANS/INTERCEPTS/THRESHOLDS INMULTIPLE GROUP ANALYSISIn multiple group analysis, the intercepts and thresholds of observeddependent variables that are factor indicators are constrained to be equalacross groups as the default. The means and intercepts of continuouslatent variables are fixed at zero in the first group and are free to beestimated in the other groups as the default. Means, intercepts, andthresholds are referred to by the use of square brackets.Following is an example how to refer to means and intercepts in amultiple group model.MODEL:MODEL g1:MODEL g2:f1 BY y1-y5;f2 BY y6-y10;f1 ON f2;[f1 f2];[f1@0 f2@0];In the above example, the intercepts and the factor loadings for thefactor indicators y1-y5 are held equal across the three groups as thedefault. In the group-specific MODEL command for g1, the mean of f2and the intercept of f1 are specified to be free. In the group-specificMODEL command for g2, the mean of f2 and the intercept of f1 arefixed at zero.428