Distorted meta-analytic findings on peer influence: A reanalysis

Meta-analytic prospective associations between self-esteem and eating disorders appear to be spurious: a reanalysis and comment on Krauss et al. (2023)

In a recent meta-analysis, Krauss et al. found support for a reciprocal model of low self-esteem and eating disorders where, in a vicious circle, low self-esteem makes people more vulnerable to developing eating disorders and eating disorders, in turn, scars individuals' self-esteem. However, in the present reanalyses of the same meta-analytic data, we found that the prospective effects between self-esteem and eating disorders are likely spurious, meaning they do not reflect a true causal effect, but rather correlations with residuals and regression to the mean. Consequently, the claims by Krauss et al. can be challenged. To avoid statistical artifacts, we recommend researchers to fit, as we did in the present study, complementary models to their data in order to evaluate if prospective effects may be genuinely increasing or decreasing or if they appear to be spurious.

Prospective effects of mindfulness on anxiety and depressive symptoms may be spurious: Simulated reanalysis of a meta-analytic cross-lagged panel analysis

A recent meta-analysis claimed decreasing prospective effects of acting with awareness and non-reacting, two facets of dispositional mindfulness, on subsequent anxiety and depressive symptoms. However, the meta-analytic cross-lagged effects were estimated while adjusting for a prior measurement of the outcome variable and it is known that such adjusted cross-lagged effects may be spurious due to correlations with residuals and regression to the mean. We fitted competing models on simulations of the same meta-analytic data and found that prospective effects of the mindfulness facets on anxiety and depressive symptoms probably were spurious. It is important for researchers to be aware of limitations of adjusted cross-lagged effects, meta-analytically estimated or not, in order not to overinterpret findings.

Spurious prospective effects between general and domain-specific self-esteem: A reanalysis of a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies

A recent meta-analysis, of 38 studies with data from 43 independent samples (total N = 24,668), claimed evidence for positive reciprocal prospective effects, and hence for both top-down and bottom-up processes, between general and domain-specific self-esteem. However, the meta-analytic cross-lagged effects were estimated while adjusting for a prior measurement of the outcome variable and it is known that such adjusted cross-lagged effects may be spurious due to correlations with residuals and regression to the mean. In the present reanalyses, we found all of the prospective effects to be spurious. Consequently, claims about increasing prospective effects and top-down and bottom-up processes between general and domain-specific self-esteem can be questioned. It is important for researchers to be aware of the limitations of cross-lagged panel analyses, and of analyses of correlational data in general, in order not to overinterpret findings.