Library · Causal inference & statistics
What Structural Equation Modeling got wrong, from 22 theses
Summary written by a model from the records below: Across these records, researchers frequently encountered poor measurement fit, numerical non-convergence, and sample size restrictions when applying structural equation modeling. In several cases, researchers rejected the methodology because empirical data violated rigid parametric assumptions and factor structures. These records come from graduate theses, 2021 to 2026, each labeled with its degree where the repository states it, and each links to its thesis. They were extracted by language models reading the full text, so treat each as a lead to read, not a verdict.
Plus 8 problems the authors left open, listed at the end.
Failure modes, by theses reporting them
Select a mode to jump to its records.
Hypothesized latent models fail to achieve acceptable goodness of fit
Latent variable and measurement models repeatedly failed to satisfy standard global goodness of fit thresholds across survey and longitudinal studies. Attempts to adjust indicators or prune low-loading items failed to resolve poor fit statistics and near-zero explained variance.
Tried and failed
structural equation modeling measurement model applied to survey scale latent factor estimation. Reason: poor fit due to items having extremely low or negative factor loadings
A mixed methods evaluation of the relationship between purity culture and sexual shame · UT Austin · PhD
Tried and failed
multilevel structural equation modeling applied to longitudinal survey diary data. Reason: Poor model fit indices for latent variables
Examining the Benefits of Cisgender Allyship Behavior for Allies of Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Individuals · Texas Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
structural equation modeling on survey resilience metrics applied to agricultural economic resilience to disruptions. Outcome: no signal. Reason: poor model fit and statistically non-significant relationships across spatial, social, and diversity predictors
Studies on Regional Food Systems: Refining measures of spatial access and evaluating the role of social capital in farming resilience · Cornell · PhD
Tried and failed
Structural equation modeling of self-determination theory applied to occupational burnout and well-being data. Reason: The hypothesized multi-construct path model exhibited poor global goodness-of-fit to the cross-sectional survey data
Using self-determination theory to evaluate well-being and burnout of community pharmacists · UT Austin · PhD
Tried and failed
latent congruence structural equation modeling applied to multi-informant psychological longitudinal outcomes. Outcome: no signal. Reason: models connecting latent agreement factors to symptom trajectories failed to achieve adequate fit or significant predictive paths
Tried and failed
latent congruence structural equation modeling applied to multi-informant longitudinal dyadic ratings. Reason: No adequately fitting structural equation model could be established across measurement sessions
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Structural equation models (SEMs) rejected because literature shows almost none meet standard goodness-of-fit thresholds and suffer poor underlying assumption handling.
Understanding transport behaviour and policies to increase walking and cycling · Oxford · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected evaluating a single unified structural equation model encompassing all five social adjustment domains simultaneously due to poor fit (RMSEA = .064, CFI = .772, TLI = .698).
Executive Functioning and Theory of Mind: Links with Emerging Adult Peer, Occupational, and Romantic Adjustment · York University · Doctorate
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) latent variable approach rejected due to poor measurement model fit across mental health and additional benefit constructs.
Examining the Benefits of Cisgender Allyship Behavior for Allies of Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Individuals · Texas Tech · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Initial plan of conducting a pathway structural equation model of self-regulation mediating social-emotional skills and academic achievement, rejected due to poor fit statistics.
Examining the characteristics of behavioural, cognitive and emotional aspects of self-regulation and their associations with academic achievement among Chinese preschool children · Oxford · Master's
Tried and failed
Bifactor structural equation modeling applied to Hierarchical psychopathology dimensions. Outcome: did not converge. Reason: Failed to achieve acceptable fit and externalizing indicators had near-zero explained variance
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Psychopathology: An Examination of Transdiagnostic Mechanisms · Texas Tech · PhD
Complex structural specifications cause numerical non-convergence
Maximum likelihood estimation repeatedly failed to reach numerical convergence in latent variable structural models. These convergence failures regularly forced researchers to abandon structural equation modeling in favor of multiple linear regressions or simpler path models.
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected a latent variable SEM approach for SRM-dependent Response Surface Analysis because the structural equation models failed to converge.
Stereotypes and Social Decisions: The Interpersonal Consequences of Socioeconomic Status · University of Oregon · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in favor of multiple linear regression analyses due to persistent model non-convergence.
The Role of Parent-Adolescent Relationships and Romantic Relationships in Type 1 Diabetes Management Outcomes in Adulthood · Virginia Tech · Doctorate
Tried and failed
incorporating distal exposure constructs into structural equation modeling applied to behavioral intention prediction. Outcome: did not converge. Reason: direct effects lacked signal and inclusion caused model non-convergence and severe fit deterioration
Media and memorable messages: beyond traditional barriers to organ donation in contemporary China · UT Austin · PhD
Tried and failed
fully latent product-indicator structural equation modeling applied to moderated mediation analysis. Outcome: did not converge. Reason: numerical convergence issues with complex latent interaction estimation
Career Calling in Older Adults: A Socioemotional Selectivity Perspective · Georgia Tech · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Exclusion of auxiliary variables from the structural equation model to avoid model non-convergence with maximum likelihood estimators.
Diversity and Inequality in Context: Schools, Neighborhoods, and Adolescent Development · Duke · PhD
Rigid parametric and distributional assumptions conflict with empirical data
Structural equation modeling was rejected because datasets violated requirements such as continuous variables, homogeneous treatment effects, and correctly specified processes. Unstable literature factor structures, severe multicollinearity, and poor discriminant validity also conflicted with rigid a priori model constraints.
Tried and failed
Structural equation modeling with correlated latent constructs applied to survey-based consumer perception measurement. Reason: Severe multicollinearity and poor discriminant validity between highly correlated constructs forced variable removal
Social media influencers’ social cause communication: Message attributes and consumer responses · Iowa State · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected the standalone use of the chi-square (χ2) goodness-of-fit test for evaluating model fit in structural equation modeling due to its unrealistic exact-fit null hypothesis and severe sample size sensitivity.
Evaluating the Performance of Existing and Novel Equivalence Tests for Structural Equation Modeling · York University · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) because provisional factor structures in prior literature were too unstable for a priori constraints
An Exploration of Fear of Sleep and Experiential Avoidance in the Context of PTSD and Insomnia Symptoms · University of Oregon · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Covariance-based and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were rejected because the policy intervention variable was binary rather than continuous
Better Contract – Better 3PL Performance · MIT · Master's
Small sample sizes cause severe overfitting and convergence constraints
Studies frequently failed to meet the sample size thresholds of one hundred to two hundred participants required for structural equation modeling. In small samples, high parameter counts produced severe overfitting and convergence blocks that forced authors to switch to ordinary least squares regression or exploratory models.
Tried and failed
structural equation modeling with composite score indicators applied to small sample census tract data. Outcome: data insufficient. Reason: High parameter count relative to sample size (N=35) caused severe overfitting, multicollinearity, and poor fit indices.
Heritage and Housing: The Impact of Historical Designation in Miami’s Urban Development. · Harvard · Master's
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected structural equation modeling for grade-level comparisons with sociodemographic covariates due to sample size convergence constraints, switching to OLS regressions on factor scores
Developing Novel Approaches to Analyzing Vocabulary, Syntax, and Discourse Structure in Fifth-to-Eighth Grade Argumentative Writing · Harvard · Doctorate
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected traditional structural equation modeling (SEM) in favor of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) to better handle real-world social science data cross-loadings and small sample size.
Expansion of Motivation Models of Engineering Doctoral Student Populations · University of Nevada, Reno · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) rejected due to insufficient sample sizes failing minimum requirements of 100-200 participants
Examining the Temporal Stability of Evaluative Attitudes Toward Violence · Carleton University · Master's
Left open by the authors
Problems the authors named and did not get to.
Left open
Model the simultaneous interaction effects of privacy concerns and three sustainability types on consumer adoption using structural equation modeling. Blocker: Requires collecting new survey participant data or accessing the original thesis dataset.
Privacy Suspension with Sustainability and Trust in Consumer Adoption of Smart Technology · Virginia Tech · Doctorate
Left open
Test predicted health behaviors as mediators or moderators between negative healthcare experiences and health outcomes using structural equation modeling. Blocker: Requires the private survey dataset of sexual and gender minority adults used in the thesis
Investigating the healthcare setting as uniquely stressful for sexual and gender minority adults · UT Austin · PhD
Left open
Fit structural equation models to VR experimental data to evaluate simultaneous predictive pathways between individual/task traits and cybersickness. Blocker: Requires private participant experimental data collected during the thesis study
Cybersickness in virtual reality as a function of individual differences and scalable task workload · Iowa State · PhD
Left open
Fit structural equation models on the ECLS-K:2011 dataset to test and evaluate the modified teacher input theory. Blocker: None
Left open
Quantify out-of-distribution generalization within the structural equation modeling (SEM) and invariance framework for reweighting fairness methods. Blocker: Lacks specific target metrics, datasets, or concrete evaluation protocols
Enhancing Fairness in Machine Learning through Reweighting · Tübingen · PhD
Left open
Perform structural equation modeling with latent measurement structures on the thesis survey data using lavaan instead of observed mean path analysis. Blocker: Requires the private student survey dataset collected for this specific PhD thesis.
The interplay of gender, other-gender similarity, and sexual orientation on academic motivation among cisgender college students · UT Austin · PhD
Left open
Fit a structural equation model to identify a common latent variable across depressive symptoms, self-compassion, and self-efficacy predicting academic outcomes. Blocker: Requires private survey data collected from the Texas Tech college student sample.
The influence of self-related constructs on the relationship between depressive symptoms and academic outcomes in college students · Texas Tech · PhD
Left open
Examine the role of teachers' beliefs on student mathematics performance using structural equation modeling of survey and performance data. Blocker: None
Relationship among U.S. mathematics teachers’ beliefs, teaching strategies and performance of ninth grade ethnically diverse students · Texas Tech · PhD
Who has worked on this
Authors of the public theses cited on this page, most-cited first.
- Hannah Rachel Snidman · Texas Tech · PhD · 2024
Examining the Benefits of Cisgender Allyship Behavior for Allies of Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Individuals - Krista Nichole Hein · Virginia Tech · Doctorate · 2025
The Role of Parent-Adolescent Relationships and Romantic Relationships in Type 1 Diabetes Management Outcomes in Adulthood - Xuan Zhao · Tübingen · PhD · 2025
Enhancing Fairness in Machine Learning through Reweighting - Pablo Javier Calvo · Harvard · Master's · 2024
Heritage and Housing: The Impact of Historical Designation in Miami’s Urban Development. - James E. Barnett · Texas Tech · PhD · 2024
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Psychopathology: An Examination of Transdiagnostic Mechanisms - Bradley Hughes · University of Oregon · PhD · 2024
Stereotypes and Social Decisions: The Interpersonal Consequences of Socioeconomic Status - Shay Kelly · University of Oregon · PhD · 2024
An Exploration of Fear of Sleep and Experiential Avoidance in the Context of PTSD and Insomnia Symptoms - Kate E. Kidwell · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2023
Career Calling in Older Adults: A Socioemotional Selectivity Perspective - Angie Lee · Iowa State · PhD · 2023
Social media influencers’ social cause communication: Message attributes and consumer responses - Nataly Beribisky · York University · PhD · 2023
Evaluating the Performance of Existing and Novel Equivalence Tests for Structural Equation Modeling - Derrick James Satterfield · University of Nevada, Reno · PhD · 2023
Expansion of Motivation Models of Engineering Doctoral Student Populations - Shriya Rangarajan · Cornell · PhD · 2022
Studies on Regional Food Systems: Refining measures of spatial access and evaluating the role of social capital in farming resilience
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