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Identification and Sensitivity Analysis for Average Causal Mediation Effects with Time-Varying Treatments and Mediators: Investigating the Underlying Mechanisms of Kindergarten Retention Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Soojin Park Open the ORCID record for Soojin Park [Opens in a new window] ,
Peter M. Steiner  and
David Kaplan
Soojin Park*
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside
Peter M. Steiner
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
David Kaplan
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
*
Correspondence should be made to Soojin Park, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, USA. Email: soojinp@ucr.edu
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Abstract

Considering that causal mechanisms unfold over time, it is important to investigate the mechanisms over time, taking into account the time-varying features of treatments and mediators. However, identification of the average causal mediation effect in the presence of time-varying treatments and mediators is often complicated by time-varying confounding. This article aims to provide a novel approach to uncovering causal mechanisms in time-varying treatments and mediators in the presence of time-varying confounding. We provide different strategies for identification and sensitivity analysis under homogeneous and heterogeneous effects. Homogeneous effects are those in which each individual experiences the same effect, and heterogeneous effects are those in which the effects vary over individuals. Most importantly, we provide an alternative definition of average causal mediation effects that evaluates a partial mediation effect; the effect that is mediated by paths other than through an intermediate confounding variable. We argue that this alternative definition allows us to better assess at least a part of the mediated effect and provides meaningful and unique interpretations. A case study using ECLS-K data that evaluates kindergarten retention policy is offered to illustrate our proposed approach.

Keywords

causal mediation analysistime-varying treatment and mediatortime-varying confounding variablehomogeneous effectsheterogeneous effectssensitivity analysis
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 298 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-018-9606-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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