The extent to which the final model was invariant across gender was examined. The test of gender invariance revealed significant differences, and a model that assumed gender invariance yielded low and unacceptable fit on a range of fit indices. Thus, gender was used as a covariate for each time point, to examine whether it was significant and whether effects retained significance after partialing out the gender effect. Specifically, no modification indices (>3.84) involving gender were found. Furthermore, path coefficients within the structural model did not differ significantly with the inclusion of gender as a measurement covariate.
