Figure 1 depicts SEM models having a direct path from the higher-order Internalizing factor to alcohol dependence with sex and age as exogenous covariates. 1 Although the Chi-sq tests of model fit were highly significant for both the 12-month and lifetime models (X2 = 210.138 with 24 df and X2 = 333.058 with 23 df, respectively), this test is considered to be overly sensitive when dealing with very large data sets such as the NESARC (Muthén and Muthén, 2007). Other fit statistics were good with CFI = .981, TLI =.978 and RMSEA = 0.013 for the model based on 12-month diagnoses. For the model based on lifetime diagnoses, fit indicators were comparably good with CFI = .982, TLI = .980 and RMSEA = 0.018. The R2 explained for alcohol dependence in both the 12-month and lifetime models was large (.36 and .35, respectively); i.e., approximately 1/3 of alcohol dependence outcomes were explained by the model. The Beta for the direct path from the Internalizing latent variable to alcohol dependence was also significant in both models.
