ABSTRACT
We have thus far focused on examining structural equation models that include only main effects of variables, sometimes called simple effects (Baron and Kenny 1986) or first-order effects (Marsh, Wen, and Hau 2004). In this chapter, we consider interaction or moderation effects to address whether the form and/or magnitude of the relationship between variables is inuenced by another variable often called a moderator (Baron and Kenny 1986; Lazarsfeld 1955). The importance of investigating interaction effects has been well recognized and studied in a wide range of scientic elds (e.g., Bagozzi, Baumgartner, and Yi 1992; Busemeyer and Jones 1983; Kenny and Judd 1984; Sharma, Durand, and Gur-Arie 1981; Schumacker and Marcoulides 1998).
