Commentary on Mediation analysis and categorical variables: The final frontier by Dawn Iacobucci

The commentary discusses several topics in Dr. Iacobucci's article on mediation analysis with categorical variables including the lack of equivalency of mediated effect measures, ab, and c-c', that are algebraically equivalent in ordinary least squares regression models. The commentary raises the issue of correlated mediation coefficients and presents formulas to include the correlation in the test of significance. References to new developments in causal mediation analysis for categorical variables are given and the importance of programs of research to establish a mediation theory is emphasized. (C) 2012 Society for Consumer Psychology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.