No convincing evidence for a mediated effect of Type D personality on quality of life: A reanalysis of Wang et al. (2026)
Abstract
Using the covariance matrix published by Wang et al., we reexamined the evidence for their proposed mediation framework linking Type D personality to diminished quality of life. We show that the reported associations can be reproduced almost exactly by an alternative latent-variable model that does not rely on the directional sequence assumed in the original study. In this competing account, self-reported Type D personality, perceived stress, psychological distress, and impaired quality of life are conceptualized as observable manifestations of an underlying core self-evaluation construct. The results illustrate the problem of underdetermination in observational research, whereby different theoretical models can account equally well for the same empirical pattern. We therefore argue that greater consideration should be given to alternative model specifications and that correlational findings should be interpreted cautiously when making claims about underlying mechanisms.
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BibTeX
@misc{sorjonen2026convincing,
title = {{No convincing evidence for a mediated effect of Type D personality on quality of life: A reanalysis of Wang et al. (2026)}},
author = {Kimmo Sorjonen and Bo Melin and Marika Melin},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/6j2vu_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/6j2vu_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - No convincing evidence for a mediated effect of Type D personality on quality of life: A reanalysis of Wang et al. (2026)
AU - Kimmo Sorjonen
AU - Bo Melin
AU - Marika Melin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/06
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/6j2vu_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/6j2vu_v1/
AB - Using the covariance matrix published by Wang et al., we reexamined the evidence for their proposed mediation framework linking Type D personality to diminished quality of life. We show that the reported associations can be reproduced almost exactly by an alternative latent-variable model that does not rely on the directional sequence assumed in the original study. In this competing account, self-reported Type D personality, perceived stress, psychological distress, and impaired quality of life are conceptualized as observable manifestations of an underlying core self-evaluation construct. The results illustrate the problem of underdetermination in observational research, whereby different theoretical models can account equally well for the same empirical pattern. We therefore argue that greater consideration should be given to alternative model specifications and that correlational findings should be interpreted cautiously when making claims about underlying mechanisms.
ER -