Skip to contents

A Function That Writes, Saves, and Exports Syntax for Fitting Latent Common Fate Models (CFMs)

Source: R/scriptCFM.R
scriptCFM.Rd

This function takes the outputted object from scrapeVarCross() and automatically writes, returns, and exports (.txt) lavaan() syntax for specifying Common Fate Models (CFMs). Users can also invoke configural, loading, and/or intercept invariant measurement models, and particular types of structural comparisons.

Usage

scriptCFM(
  dvn,
  scaleset = "FF",
  lvxname,
  lvyname,
  constr_dy_x_meas = c("loadings", "intercepts", "residuals"),
  constr_dy_x_struct = c("variances", "means"),
  constr_dy_y_meas = c("loadings", "intercepts", "residuals"),
  constr_dy_y_struct = c("variances", "means"),
  constr_dy_xy_struct = "none",
  model = lifecycle::deprecated(),
  writeTo = NULL,
  fileName = NULL
)

Arguments

dvn

input dvn list from scrapeVarCross

scaleset

input character to specify how to set the scale of the latent variable(s). Default is "FF" (fixed-factor; see Details for rationale), but user can specify "MV" (Marker Variable)

lvxname

input character to (arbitrarily) name LV X in lavaan syntax

lvyname

input character to (arbitrarily) name LV Y in lavaan syntax

constr_dy_x_meas

input character vector detailing which measurement model parameters to constrain across dyad members for latent X. Default is c("loadings", "intercepts", "residuals"), but user can specify any combination of "loadings", "intercepts", and "residuals", #or "none" to specify an otherwise unconstrained dyadic configural invariance model

constr_dy_x_struct

input character vector detailing which structural model parameters to constrain across dyad members for latent X. Default is c("variances", "means"), but user can specify any combination of "variances" and "means", or "none".

constr_dy_y_meas

input character vector detailing which measurement model parameters to constrain across dyad members for latent X. Default is c("loadings", "intercepts", "residuals"), but user can specify any combination of "loadings", "intercepts", and "residuals", #or "none" to specify an otherwise unconstrained dyadic configural invariance model

constr_dy_y_struct

input character vector detailing which structural model parameters to constrain across dyad members for latent X. Default is c("variances", "means"), but user can specify any combination of "variances" and "means", or "none".

constr_dy_xy_struct

input character vector detailing which structural model parameters to constrain for modeling the predictive association(s) between partners' latent x and y. Defaults to "none". Options include "p1_zero" or "p2_zero" (to constrain within-person latent residual covariances between X and Y to zero), or "covar_zero" (to constrain both within-person latent residual correlations to zero), and/or "dyadic_zero" (to constrain the dyadic effect to zero).

model

Deprecated input character used to specify which level of invariance is modeled. Users should rely upon constr_dy_x_meas/constr_dy_y_meas and constr_dy_x_struct/constr_dy_y_struct instead, for making constraints to the measurement and/or structural portions of the model for latent x and y.

writeTo

A character string specifying a directory path to where a .txt file of the resulting lavaan script should be written. If set to “.”, the .txt file will be written to the current working directory. The default is NULL, and examples use a temporary directory created by tempdir().

fileName

A character string specifying a desired base name for the .txt output file. The default is NULL. The specified name will be automatically appended with the .txt file extension. If a file with the same name already exists in the user's chosen directory, it will be overwritten.

Value

character object of lavaan script that can be passed immediately to lavaan functions. Users will receive message if structural comparisons are specified when the recommended level of invariance is not also specified. If user supplies dvn with containing X or Y variables, they are alerted to respecify the dvn object.

See also

scrapeVarCross which this function relies on

Other script-writing functions: scriptAPIM(), scriptBiDy(), scriptCFA(), scriptDyEFA(), scriptINULL(), scriptISAT(), scriptMIM()

Examples

dvn <- scrapeVarCross(dat = commitmentQ, x_order = "spi", x_stem = "sat.g", x_delim1 = ".",
x_delim2="_", distinguish_1="1", distinguish_2="2",
y_order="spi", y_stem="com", y_delim1 = ".", y_delim2="_")
cfm.script.indist <-  scriptCFM(dvn, lvxname = "Sat", lvyname = "Com",
writeTo = tempdir(),
fileName = "CFM_indist")