Misidentification 4: Y1 regressed on X1, EN7-EN12 regressed on X1, and Y1 covarying with EN7-EN12

For the forth misidentification, we regressed Y₁ on X1, regressed EN7-EN12 on X1, and covaried the residuals of Y₁ and EN7-EN12 using Lavaan (illustrated in the Figure below). This was replicated 10,000 times – using R-loops – while randomly varying the effects for each causal pathway between the constructs in the network excluding the direct effect of X₁ on Y₁ (true direct causal effect = 1.00; N = 10,000; R-Code).

As illustrated in the figure below, the misidentification of the structural association where Y₁ was regressed on X1, EN7-EN12 was regressed on on X1, and covaried the residuals of Y₁ and EN7-EN12, produced an average slope coefficient of b = 27.96. This suggests that a 1 point increase in X₁ directly causes a 27.96 increase in Y₁, on average. As a reminder, the true slope coefficient is 1.00.