Network analysis - categorical grouping variable?

BJ89

Hi all and EJ :)

Is it feasible to include a goruping variable (e.g. gender) in a network, if I don't have power to estimate two separate networks? I know we can estimate using mgm, but it doesn't appear to produce anything too informative with this method, and I wondered if it was statistically feasible to include it as a variable using EBICglasso, which seems to produce a more useful (visually) network?

Thank you!

EJ

I'll ask our expert!

E.J.

Jill

Hi BJ89,

I agree that if you don't have enough power, do not use the grouping variable to estimate two networks.

And what do you mean when you say, "mgm doesn't appear to produce anything informative" and "EBICglasso seems to produce a more useful network"?

I would strongly advise against including a binary variable in an EBICglasso network. You do lose information but what you could do is binarize all your data (transform your ordinal variable under a certain threshold) and fit an Ising model. See as an example: "From Loss to Loneliness: The Relationship Between Bereavement and Depressive Symptoms (Fried et al., 2015)"

I hope this helps!

Best,

Jill