After Karl Joreskog's first presentation in 1970, Structural Equation Modelling or SEM has become a main statistical tool in many fields of science. It is the standard approach of factor analytic and causal modelling in such diverse fields as sociology, education, psychology, economics, management and medical sciences. In addition to an extension of its application area, Structural Equation Modelling also features a continual renewal and extension of its theoretical background. The sixteen contributions to this book, written by experts from many countries, present important new developments...

Since Charles Spearman published his seminal paper on factor analysis in 1904 and Karl Joresk ] og replaced the observed variables in an econometric structural equation model by latent factors in 1970, causal modelling by means of latent variables has become the standard in the social and behavioural sciences. Indeed, the central va- ables that social and behavioural theories deal with, can hardly ever be identi?ed as observed variables. Statistical modelling has to take account of measurement - rors and invalidities in the observed variables and so address the underlying latent variables....