#### Holmes

##### New Member
Hello all,

I'm using Mplus to fit a model with latent variables interaction. I'm using the XWITH command (TYPE = RANDOM) so the standardized estimates are not available.

I obtain the standardized regression weights by dividing the unstandardized ones by the SD of the dependent variable and multiplying by the SD of the independent variable. But, does anyone know how to obtain the standardized factor loadings from the unstandardized ones?

#### Lazar

##### Phineas Packard

F12 by item1@.867 item2 item3; !where .867 is the stdyx loading from the model without the interaction.

This has the advantage of making all the latent variance approximately 1 which facilitates the functions below:

In terms of the standadized regression weights your formula is likely incorrect. See the paper I linked to. If you are familiar with R you can get the R^2 proportion R^2 and standadized regression loadings using the following functions that I think are correct :

Code:
#Formula for computing R squared
R2<- function (v1, rv1) {(v1-rv1)/v1} #where v1 is the total variance in the dependent taken from either a model without the interaction or tech4

#Proportion R squared explained by interaction
PropR2 <- function (b3, v1, v2, v3, cv1){
#b3 = coef for the interaction predicting the dependent
#v1 = variance of one of the factors that make up the interaction
#v2 = variance of the other factors that make up the interaction
#v3 = variance of the dependent
#cv1 = covariance between the factors making up the latent interaction
x1= v1*v2 + cv1^2
x2 = x1*b3^2
x2/v3
}

#standadized regression weights for main effects and interaction
#Main effects
B <- function(b,v,v3){
#b = the coef of interest
#v = the coef of the independent you are interested in
# v3 = variance of dependent
x1 = b/(v3^.5)
x1*(v^.5)
}

B3std <- function(b3,v1,v2,v3){
#v1 = variance of one of the factors that make up the interaction
#v2 = variance of the other factors that make up the interaction
#v3 = variance of the dependent
#b3 = coef for the interaction predicting the dependent.
x1 = b3/(v3^.5)
x1*(v1^.5)*(v2^.5)
}
EDIT: I checked the functions against Muthen's results in the linked paper. They work as expected.

#### Holmes

##### New Member
Thank you, Lazar.

I actually followed Muthén's paper to obtain the regression coefficients (main effects and the interaction effect) and R squared. There is no problem with that.