Latent Variable Models and Networks: Statistical Equivalence and Testability.

Networks are gaining popularity as an alternative to latent variable models for representing psychological constructs. Whereas latent variable approaches introduce unobserved common causes to explain the relations among observed variables, network approaches posit direct causal relations between observed variables. While these approaches lead to radically different understandings of the psychological constructs of interest, recent articles have established mathematical equivalences that hold between network models and latent variable models. We argue that the fact that for any model from one class there is an equivalent model from the other class does not mean that both models are equally plausible accounts of the data-generating mechanism. In many cases the constraints that are meaningful in one framework translate to constraints in the equivalent model that lack a clear interpretation in the other framework. Finally, we discuss three diverging predictions for the relation between zero-order correlations and partial correlations implied by sparse network models and unidimensional factor models. We propose a test procedure that compares the likelihoods of these models in light of these diverging implications. We use an empirical example to illustrate our argument.

Chronic hospitalized and household maintained consumers; characteristics and differences among referees to the Iranian society supporting individuals with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Providing treatment and educational services for consumers and their caregivers is more effective if those services are implemented based on their characteristics and differences. To partly address this objective, the present study aimed to describe and compare characteristics and differences of chronic hospitalized and household maintained consumers and their caregivers who were regular users of educational and rehabilitation programs of the Iranian Society Supporting Individuals with Schizophrenia (ISSIS) in Tehran, Iran. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty one consumers were evaluated based on demographics, and clinical and symptom-related characteristics. Their caregivers (n = 231) were independently evaluated based on their knowledge on schizophrenia, family function, burden, and availability of social services and support for them. Data were analyzed by performing independent sample t-test and Mann-Whitney U. RESULTS: The study findings revealed hospitalized consumers were older, had longer length of illness, greater severity of positive and negative symptoms and lower efficacy in basic life skills in comparison with household maintained consumers. The caregivers of the hospitalized consumers had greater objective and subjective burdens and lower knowledge on schizophrenia in comparison with caregivers of household maintained consumers. While household maintained consumers had more access to medical insurance, their caregivers had more access to the supportive organizations, more availability of substitute caregiver and assistant caregiver compared with caregivers of hospitalized consumers. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest the need to promote specific interventions and treatment programs for Iranian consumers and their caregivers based on their characteristics and differences due to schizophrenia. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: None.