Mplus Users Guide v6.. - Muthén & Muthén

CHAPTER 1between variables. The figure below shows the types of relationshipsthat can be modeled in Mplus. The rectangles represent observedvariables. Observed variables can be outcome variables or backgroundvariables. Background variables are referred to as x; continuous andcensored outcome variables are referred to as y; and binary, orderedcategorical (ordinal), unordered categorical (nominal), and countoutcome variables are referred to as u. The circles represent latentvariables. Both continuous and categorical latent variables are allowed.Continuous latent variables are referred to as f. Categorical latentvariables are referred to as c.The arrows in the figure represent regression relationships betweenvariables. Regressions relationships that are allowed but not specificallyshown in the figure include regressions among observed outcomevariables, among continuous latent variables, and among categoricallatent variables. For continuous outcome variables, linear regressionmodels are used. For censored outcome variables, censored (tobit)regression models are used, with or without inflation at the censoringpoint. For binary and ordered categorical outcomes, probit or logisticregressions models are used. For unordered categorical outcomes,multinomial logistic regression models are used. For count outcomes,Poisson and negative binomial regression models are used, with orwithout inflation at the zero point.2