Questionable mediated effect of family functioning on college students’ differentiation of the self: A comment on Luo et al. (2026)
Abstract
Drawing on the covariance matrix reported by Luo et al., I reassessed the empirical basis of their mediation model linking family malfunctioning to decreased differentiation of self. I demonstrate that the observed covariance structure can be reproduced by a theoretically different latent-variable model that does not rely on the directional mechanism proposed in the original article. In this alternative account, self-reported family malfunctioning, loneliness, psychological security, and differentiation of self are conceptualized as indicators of a broader construct, core self-evaluation. The results illustrate a broader inferential problem in psychological research: multiple theoretically plausible models may provide equally adequate explanations of the same correlational pattern. Consequently, observational associations alone offer limited grounds for preferring one explanation over competing alternatives. Researchers should therefore routinely evaluate alternative models when drawing inferences about psychological mechanisms from nonexperimental data.
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BibTeX
@misc{sorjonen2026questionable,
title = {{Questionable mediated effect of family functioning on college students’ differentiation of the self: A comment on Luo et al. (2026)}},
author = {Kimmo Sorjonen},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/pe749_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/pe749_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Questionable mediated effect of family functioning on college students’ differentiation of the self: A comment on Luo et al. (2026)
AU - Kimmo Sorjonen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/pe749_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/pe749_v1/
AB - Drawing on the covariance matrix reported by Luo et al., I reassessed the empirical basis of their mediation model linking family malfunctioning to decreased differentiation of self. I demonstrate that the observed covariance structure can be reproduced by a theoretically different latent-variable model that does not rely on the directional mechanism proposed in the original article. In this alternative account, self-reported family malfunctioning, loneliness, psychological security, and differentiation of self are conceptualized as indicators of a broader construct, core self-evaluation. The results illustrate a broader inferential problem in psychological research: multiple theoretically plausible models may provide equally adequate explanations of the same correlational pattern. Consequently, observational associations alone offer limited grounds for preferring one explanation over competing alternatives. Researchers should therefore routinely evaluate alternative models when drawing inferences about psychological mechanisms from nonexperimental data.
ER -