The dangers of overlooking time-honored cautions in the making causal interpretations of data analyses from correlational studies when using highly sophisticated computer programs and their associated techniques are discussed. (JKS)

LISREL-type structural equation modeling is a powerful statistical technique that seems appropriate for social science variables which are complex and difficult to measure. The literature on the specification, estimation, and testing of such models is voluminous. The greatest proportion of this literature, however, focuses on the technical aspects…

The first panel of a three-year longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the process by which youth form career expectations. The study was designed around a cross-sectional path model of career expectations drawn from the sociological literature on status attainment and is based on differential equations in which all expectation variables…