Testing for mediation effects: A step by step analysis and the Sobel macro
Keywords: simple mediation; step by step mediation analysis; Sobel macro
Summary/Abstract: A high proportion of current research in psychology use some form of mediation analysis. One of the first comprehensive articles that have addressed the issue of mediation in social sciences was published in 1986 by Baron and Kenny. It provided clear definitions of mediation and moderation, comprehensibly describing the manner in which to conduct this analysis. In the present article we first describe a step by step method for conducting the test for a simple mediation effect that satisfies the Baron and Kenny (1986) criteria. Second we present the use of a macro program developed by Preacher and Hayes (2004) that executes this analysis. Examples for both procedures are offered and advantages for using these methods are discussed.