Taking Account of Time Lags in Causal Models

Although it takes time for a cause to exert an effect, causal models often fail to allow adequately for time lags. In particular, causal models that contain cross-sectional relations (i.e., relations between values of 2 variables at the same time) are unsatisfactory because they omit the values of variables at prior times, they omit effects that variables can have on themselves, and they fail to specify the length of the causal interval that is being studied. These omissions can produce severe biases in estimates of the size of causal effects. Longitudinal models also can fail to take account of time lags properly, and this too can lead to severely biased estimates. The discussion illustrates the biases that can occur in both cross-sectional and longitudinal models, introduces the latent longitudinal approach to causal modeling, and shows how latent longitudinal models can be used to reduce bias by taking account of time lags even when data are available for only 1 point in time.