[R] sem package and growth curves

Chuck Cleland ccleland at optonline.net
Wed Mar 3 17:41:16 CET 2010


Dear John,

  Thanks very much for your message.  I should have looked at the help
page for sem() more closely.  Thanks again for your excellent work on
the package.

Regards,

Chuck

On 3/3/2010 10:18 AM, John Fox wrote:
> Dear Chuck and Daniel,
> 
> First, thanks Chuck for fielding the question, which I didn't notice in
> r-help.
> 
> I can get solutions for models A, B, and C using the automatic start values
> along with the argument par.size="startvalues" to sem() (as recommended in
> ?sem if there are convergence problems). For example, for Model A:
> 
> -------- snip ---------
> 
>> modA <- specify.model()
> 1: I -> ALC1, NA, 1
> 2: I -> ALC2, NA, 1
> 3: I -> ALC3, NA, 1
> 4: S -> ALC1, NA, 0
> 5: S -> ALC2, NA, 0.75
> 6: S -> ALC3, NA, 1.75
> 7: UNIT -> I, Mi, NA
> 8: UNIT -> S, Ms, NA
> 9: I <-> I, Vi, NA
> 10: S <-> S, Vs, NA
> 11: I <-> S, Cis, NA
> 12: ALC1 <-> ALC1, Vd1, NA
> 13: ALC2 <-> ALC2, Vd2, NA
> 14: ALC3 <-> ALC3, Vd3, NA
> 15: 
> Read 14 records
>> sem.modA <- sem(modA, alc2.modA.raw, 1122, fixed.x="UNIT",
> par.size="startvalues", raw=TRUE)
>> summary(sem.modA)
> 
> Model fit to raw moment matrix.
> 
>  Model Chisquare =  0.048207   Df =  1 Pr(>Chisq) = 0.82621
>  BIC =  -6.9747 
> 
>  Normalized Residuals
>     Min.  1st Qu.   Median     Mean  3rd Qu.     Max. 
> -0.04050 -0.03790 -0.01600  0.00603  0.03200  0.09620 
> 
>  Parameter Estimates
>     Estimate  Std Error z value Pr(>|z|)                 
> Mi   0.225625 0.0106901 21.1059 0.0000e+00 I <--- UNIT   
> Ms   0.035978 0.0073456  4.8979 9.6865e-07 S <--- UNIT   
> Vi   0.087039 0.0071035 12.2530 0.0000e+00 I <--> I      
> Vs   0.019764 0.0052178  3.7877 1.5205e-04 S <--> S      
> Cis -0.012476 0.0045780 -2.7251 6.4282e-03 S <--> I      
> Vd1  0.048428 0.0064146  7.5495 4.3743e-14 ALC1 <--> ALC1
> Vd2  0.075702 0.0044403 17.0488 0.0000e+00 ALC2 <--> ALC2
> Vd3  0.076698 0.0098901  7.7551 8.8818e-15 ALC3 <--> ALC3
> 
>  Iterations =  57 
> 
> -------- snip ---------
> 
> Model D converges with the default setting of par.size:
> 
> -------- snip ---------
> 
>> alc2.modD.raw <- raw.moments(subset(alc2,
> + select=c('PEER1','PEER2','PEER3','ALC1','ALC2','ALC3','UNIT')))
>> modD <- specify.model()
> 1: Ia -> ALC1, NA, 1
> 2: Ia -> ALC2, NA, 1
> 3: Ia -> ALC3, NA, 1
> 4: Sa -> ALC1, NA, 0
> 5: Sa -> ALC2, NA, 0.75
> 6: Sa -> ALC3, NA, 1.75
> 7: UNIT -> Ia, Mia, NA
> 8: UNIT -> Sa, Msa, NA
> 9: Ip -> PEER1, NA, 1
> 10: Ip -> PEER2, NA, 1
> 11: Ip -> PEER3, NA, 1
> 12: Sp -> PEER1, NA, 0
> 13: Sp -> PEER2, NA, 0.75
> 14: Sp -> PEER3, NA, 1.75
> 15: Ip -> Ia, B1, NA
> 16: Sp -> Ia, B2, NA
> 17: Ip -> Sa, B3, NA
> 18: Sp -> Sa, B4, NA
> 19: UNIT -> Ip, Mip, NA
> 20: UNIT -> Sp, Msp, NA
> 21: Ia <-> Ia, Via, NA
> 22: Sa <-> Sa, Vsa, NA
> 23: Ia <-> Sa, Cisa, NA
> 24: Ip <-> Ip, Vip, NA
> 25: Sp <-> Sp, Vsp, NA
> 26: Ip <-> Sp, Cisp, NA
> 27: ALC1 <-> ALC1, Vd1, NA
> 28: ALC2 <-> ALC2, Vd2, NA
> 29: ALC3 <-> ALC3, Vd3, NA
> 30: PEER1 <-> PEER1, Vd4, NA
> 31: PEER2 <-> PEER2, Vd5, NA
> 32: PEER3 <-> PEER3, Vd6, NA
> 33: ALC1 <-> PEER1, Cd1, NA
> 34: ALC2 <-> PEER2, Cd2, NA
> 35: ALC3 <-> PEER3, Cd3, NA
> 36: 
> Read 35 records
>> sem.modD <- sem(modD, alc2.modD.raw, 1122, fixed.x=c("UNIT"), raw=TRUE)
>> summary(sem.modD)
> 
> Model fit to raw moment matrix.
> 
>  Model Chisquare =  11.557   Df =  4 Pr(>Chisq) = 0.020967
>  BIC =  -16.534 
> 
>  Normalized Residuals
>     Min.  1st Qu.   Median     Mean  3rd Qu.     Max. 
> -0.91500 -0.39200  0.00105  0.09760  0.39900  1.61000 
> 
>  Parameter Estimates
>      Estimate   Std Error z value  Pr(>|z|)                   
> Mia   0.0666214 0.0156727  4.25079 2.1302e-05 Ia <--- UNIT    
> Msa   0.0083040 0.0147616  0.56254 5.7375e-01 Sa <--- UNIT    
> B1    0.7985829 0.1028010  7.76824 7.9936e-15 Ia <--- Ip      
> B2    0.0804315 0.1840470  0.43702 6.6210e-01 Ia <--- Sp      
> B3   -0.1433386 0.0762547 -1.87973 6.0144e-02 Sa <--- Ip      
> B4    0.5766956 0.1938673  2.97469 2.9328e-03 Sa <--- Sp      
> Mip   0.1881743 0.0119530 15.74285 0.0000e+00 Ip <--- UNIT    
> Msp   0.0961698 0.0096929  9.92167 0.0000e+00 Sp <--- UNIT    
> Via   0.0421656 0.0074640  5.64920 1.6120e-08 Ia <--> Ia      
> Vsa   0.0092181 0.0054564  1.68941 9.1140e-02 Sa <--> Sa      
> Cisa -0.0063651 0.0051128 -1.24492 2.1316e-01 Sa <--> Ia      
> Vip   0.0696837 0.0103795  6.71357 1.8991e-11 Ip <--> Ip      
> Vsp   0.0284726 0.0089274  3.18936 1.4259e-03 Sp <--> Sp      
> Cisp  0.0011771 0.0071251  0.16521 8.6878e-01 Sp <--> Ip      
> Vd1   0.0480379 0.0063780  7.53177 4.9960e-14 ALC1 <--> ALC1  
> Vd2   0.0762156 0.0044523 17.11821 0.0000e+00 ALC2 <--> ALC2  
> Vd3   0.0762794 0.0097763  7.80249 5.9952e-15 ALC3 <--> ALC3  
> Vd4   0.1057875 0.0108526  9.74770 0.0000e+00 PEER1 <--> PEER1
> Vd5   0.1712811 0.0087037 19.67904 0.0000e+00 PEER2 <--> PEER2
> Vd6   0.1289592 0.0177027  7.28471 3.2241e-13 PEER3 <--> PEER3
> Cd1   0.0109322 0.0061562  1.77578 7.5769e-02 PEER1 <--> ALC1 
> Cd2   0.0339991 0.0046391  7.32874 2.3226e-13 PEER2 <--> ALC2 
> Cd3   0.0374125 0.0101878  3.67229 2.4038e-04 PEER3 <--> ALC3 
> 
>  Iterations =  139 
> 
> -------- snip ---------
> 
> Regards,
>  John 
> 
> --------------------------------
> John Fox
> Senator William McMaster 
>   Professor of Social Statistics
> Department of Sociology
> McMaster University
> Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
> web: socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
> On
>> Behalf Of Chuck Cleland
>> Sent: March-03-10 9:03 AM
>> To: Daniel Nordlund
>> Cc: 'r-help'
>> Subject: Re: [R] sem package and growth curves
>>
>> On 3/2/2010 1:43 AM, Daniel Nordlund wrote:
>>> I have been working through the book "Applied longitudinal data
> analysis:
>> modeling change and event occurrence" by Judith D. Singer and John B.
>> Willett.  I have been working examples using SAS and also using it as an
>> opportunity for learning to use R for statistical analysis.
>>> I ran into some difficulties in chapter 8 which deals with using
> structural
>> equation modeling.  I have tried to use the sem package to replicate the
>> problem solutions in chapter 8.  I am more familiar with RAM
> specifications
>> than I am with structural equations (though I am a novice at both).  The
>> solutions I have tried seem to be very sensitive to starting values
>> (especially with more complex models).  I don't know if this is just my
> lack
>> of knowledge in this area, or something else.
>>> Has anyone worked out solutions to the Singer and Willett examples for
>> Chapter 8 that they would be willing to share?  I would also be interested
> in
>> other simple examples using sem and RAM specifications.  If anyone is
>> interested, I would also be willing to share the R code I have written for
>> other chapters in the Singer and Willett book.
>>
>> Hi Dan,
>>
>>   See below for my code for Models A-D in Chapter 8.  As you point out,
>> I find that this only works when good starting values are given.  I took
>> the starting values from the results given for another program (Mplus)
>> at the UCLA site for this text:
>>
>> http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/examples/alda.htm
>>
>>   I greatly appreciate John Fox's hard work on the sem package, but
>> since good starting values will generally not be available to applied
>> users I think the package is not as useful for these types of models as
>> it could be.  If anyone has approaches to specifying the models that are
>> less sensitive to starting values, or ways for less sophisticated users
>> to generate good starting values, please share.
>>
>> Chuck
>>
>> # Begin Code for Models A-D, Chapter 8, Singer & Willett (2003)
>>
>> alc2 <-
>>
> read.table("http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/mplus/examples/alda/alcohol2.txt",
>> sep="\t", header=FALSE)
>>
>> names(alc2) <-
> c('ID','FEMALE','ALC1','ALC2','ALC3','PEER1','PEER2','PEER3')
>> alc2$UNIT <- 1
>>
>> library(sem)
>>
>> alc2.modA.raw <- raw.moments(subset(alc2,
>> select=c('ALC1','ALC2','ALC3','UNIT')))
>>
>> modA <- specify.model()
>> I -> ALC1, NA, 1
>> I -> ALC2, NA, 1
>> I -> ALC3, NA, 1
>> S -> ALC1, NA, 0
>> S -> ALC2, NA, 0.75
>> S -> ALC3, NA, 1.75
>> UNIT -> I, Mi, 0.226
>> UNIT -> S, Ms, 0.036
>> I <-> I, Vi, NA
>> S <-> S, Vs, NA
>> I <-> S, Cis, NA
>> ALC1 <-> ALC1, Vd1, 0.048
>> ALC2 <-> ALC2, Vd2, 0.076
>> ALC3 <-> ALC3, Vd3, 0.077
>>
>> sem.modA <- sem(modA, alc2.modA.raw, 1122, fixed.x="UNIT", raw=TRUE)
>>
>> summary(sem.modA)
>>
>> alc2.modB.raw <- raw.moments(subset(alc2,
>> select=c('FEMALE','ALC1','ALC2','ALC3','UNIT')))
>>
>> modB <- specify.model()
>> I -> ALC1, NA, 1
>> I -> ALC2, NA, 1
>> I -> ALC3, NA, 1
>> S -> ALC1, NA, 0
>> S -> ALC2, NA, 0.75
>> S -> ALC3, NA, 1.75
>> FEMALE -> I, B1, NA
>> FEMALE -> S, B2, NA
>> UNIT -> I, Mi, 0.226
>> UNIT -> S, Ms, 0.036
>> I <-> I, Vi, NA
>> S <-> S, Vs, NA
>> I <-> S, Cis, NA
>> ALC1 <-> ALC1, Vd1, 0.048
>> ALC2 <-> ALC2, Vd2, 0.076
>> ALC3 <-> ALC3, Vd3, 0.077
>>
>> sem.modB <- sem(modB, alc2.modB.raw, 1122, fixed.x=c("FEMALE","UNIT"),
>> raw=TRUE)
>>
>> summary(sem.modB)
>>
>> alc2.modC.raw <- raw.moments(subset(alc2,
>> select=c('FEMALE','ALC1','ALC2','ALC3','UNIT')))
>>
>> modC <- specify.model()
>> I -> ALC1, NA, 1
>> I -> ALC2, NA, 1
>> I -> ALC3, NA, 1
>> S -> ALC1, NA, 0
>> S -> ALC2, NA, 0.75
>> S -> ALC3, NA, 1.75
>> FEMALE -> I, B1, NA
>> FEMALE -> S, NA, 0
>> UNIT -> I, Mi, 0.226
>> UNIT -> S, Ms, 0.036
>> I <-> I, Vi, NA
>> S <-> S, Vs, NA
>> I <-> S, Cis, NA
>> ALC1 <-> ALC1, Vd1, 0.048
>> ALC2 <-> ALC2, Vd2, 0.076
>> ALC3 <-> ALC3, Vd3, 0.077
>>
>> sem.modC <- sem(modC, alc2.modC.raw, 1122, fixed.x=c("FEMALE","UNIT"),
>> raw=TRUE)
>>
>> summary(sem.modC)
>>
>> alc2.modD.raw <- raw.moments(subset(alc2,
>> select=c('PEER1','PEER2','PEER3','ALC1','ALC2','ALC3','UNIT')))
>>
>> modD <- specify.model()
>> Ia -> ALC1, NA, 1
>> Ia -> ALC2, NA, 1
>> Ia -> ALC3, NA, 1
>> Sa -> ALC1, NA, 0
>> Sa -> ALC2, NA, 0.75
>> Sa -> ALC3, NA, 1.75
>> UNIT -> Ia, Mia, 0.226
>> UNIT -> Sa, Msa, 0.036
>> Ip -> PEER1, NA, 1
>> Ip -> PEER2, NA, 1
>> Ip -> PEER3, NA, 1
>> Sp -> PEER1, NA, 0
>> Sp -> PEER2, NA, 0.75
>> Sp -> PEER3, NA, 1.75
>> Ip -> Ia, B1, 0.799
>> Sp -> Ia, B2, 0.080
>> Ip -> Sa, B3, -0.143
>> Sp -> Sa, B4, 0.577
>> UNIT -> Ip, Mip, 0.226
>> UNIT -> Sp, Msp, 0.036
>> Ia <-> Ia, Via, 0.042
>> Sa <-> Sa, Vsa, 0.009
>> Ia <-> Sa, Cisa, -0.006
>> Ip <-> Ip, Vip, 0.070
>> Sp <-> Sp, Vsp, 0.028
>> Ip <-> Sp, Cisp, 0.001
>> ALC1 <-> ALC1, Vd1, 0.048
>> ALC2 <-> ALC2, Vd2, 0.076
>> ALC3 <-> ALC3, Vd3, 0.077
>> PEER1 <-> PEER1, Vd4, 0.106
>> PEER2 <-> PEER2, Vd5, 0.171
>> PEER3 <-> PEER3, Vd6, 0.129
>> ALC1 <-> PEER1, Cd1, 0.011
>> ALC2 <-> PEER2, Cd2, 0.034
>> ALC3 <-> PEER3, Cd3, 0.037
>>
>> sem.modD <- sem(modD, alc2.modD.raw, 1122, fixed.x=c("UNIT"), raw=TRUE)
>>
>> summary(sem.modD)
>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>> Daniel Nordlund
>>> Bothell, WA USA
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-
>> guide.html
>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>> --
>> Chuck Cleland, Ph.D.
>> NDRI, Inc. (www.ndri.org)
>> 71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor
>> New York, NY 10010
>> tel: (212) 845-4495 (Tu, Th)
>> tel: (732) 512-0171 (M, W, F)
>> fax: (917) 438-0894
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. 

-- 
Chuck Cleland, Ph.D.
NDRI, Inc. (www.ndri.org)
71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor
New York, NY 10010
tel: (212) 845-4495 (Tu, Th)
tel: (732) 512-0171 (M, W, F)
fax: (917) 438-0894



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