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Nils Beer
I. Aims
II. Characterisation of mediators and mediation
III. Testing mediating relationships in SPSS
IV. Practice Example and SPSS Analysis
V. Alternative Path Analysis in LISREL
Data of the practice example: Miles, J. & Shevlin, M. (2001). Applying Regression and
Correlation: A Guide for Students and Researchers, London: Sage Publications.
I. Aims
This handout aims to provide an introductory account of mediators and how they can
be analysed, interpreted and reported. Conducting mediator analysis in SPSS is
insightful for those new to the concept. Experienced users might prefer using Structural
Equation Modeling (SEM) programmes such as LISREL to quickly conduct a Path
Analysis. Comparison of the two techniques reflects the superiority of LISREL over
SPSS as shown in page 5.
- Complete mediation exists if the predictor variable exerts its total influence via
the mediating variable (M).
- Partial mediation is given if the predictor variable exerts some of its influence
via M, and it also exerts some of its influence directly on the outcome variable
and not via M.
IV. Practice Example and SPSS Analysis (Miles & Shevlin, 2011, 188-191)
The extent to which people enjoy reading books [enjoy] is likely to be a predictor of the
number of books they buy [buy] and the number of books they buy in turn is a likely
predictor of the number of books they read [read]. Yet, it is likely that the number of
books bought will not completely mediate the relationship between the enjoyments of
books and the number they read because people might borrow books from friends or
use libraries. Table 1 on page 2 shows the dataset comprising the three
aforementioned variables
2|Page
Table 1: Dataset for the practice example of mediator analysis using SPSS
1 4 16 6
2 15 19 13
3 1 0 1
4 11 19 13
5 13 25 12
6 19 24 11
7 6 22 7
8 10 21 8
9 15 13 12
10 3 7 4
11 11 28 15
12 20 31 14
13 7 4 7
14 11 26 14
15 10 11 9
16 6 12 5
17 7 14 7
18 18 16 12
19 8 20 10
20 2 13 6
21 7 12 9
22 12 23 13
23 13 22 9
24 15 19 13
25 4 12 9
26 3 10 5
27 9 7 7
28 7 22 8
29 10 7 8
30 2 0 2
31 15 16 7
32 1 17 6
33 3 11 9
34 6 5 9
35 13 29 15
36 15 29 11
37 16 20 9
38 14 16 7
39 1 3 2
40 8 8 10
3|Page
The corresponding mediation model can be depicted:
Buy (M)
The results of the (three SPSS regression analyses comprising) mediation analysis are
depicted in Table 2 (with the corresponding SPSS outputs shown in the Appendix).
Table 2: Results of the SPSS mediation analysis (Barron & Kenney approach)
Adj. F- Beta P
R2 Ratio
1. Regressing [read] on [enjoy] .524 43.89 .732 < .001
2. Regressing [buy] on [enjoy] .399 26.93 .644 < .001
3. Regressing [read] on [buy] controlling for [enjoy] .647 36.80 .471 < .001
Beta for [enjoy] .429
Since the (standardized) regression coefficient for [enjoy] is reduced by 0.732 0.429 =
0.303 [buy] partially mediates the relationship between [enjoy] and [buy].
The mediation tests can be conducted in a more efficient and faster way using path
analysis in LISREL. Here all three variables are observed (as opposed to latent)
variables.
4|Page
LISREL syntax file for the path analysis (testing the mediation model):
Rather than conducting the outlined three Multiple Linear Regression Analyses in
SPSS this simple LISREL syntax file results in the corresponding output!
.64
Enjoy (X) Read (Y)
.43 .47
Buy (M)
5|Page
Appendix: SPSS outputs for the mediator analysis
Regression 1
Model Summary
b
ANOVA
Total 495.100 39
a
Coefficients
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients
Regression 2
Model Summary
6|Page
b
ANOVA
Total 2599.975 39
a
Coefficients
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients
Regression 3
Model Summary
b
ANOVA
Total 495.100 39
7|Page
a
Coefficients
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients
8|Page