semtree (Q108778)

SEM Trees and SEM Forests – an extension of model-based decision trees and forests to Structural Equation Models (SEM). SEM trees hierarchically split empirical data into homogeneous groups each sharing similar data patterns with respect to a SEM by recursively selecting optimal predictors of these differences. SEM forests are an extension of SEM trees. They are ensembles of SEM trees each built on a random sample of the original data. By aggregating over a forest, we obtain measures of variable importance that are more robust than measures from single trees. A description of the method was published by Brandmaier, von Oertzen, McArdle, & Lindenberger (2013) <doi:10.1037/a0030001> and Arnold, Voelkle, & Brandmaier (2020) <doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.564403>.