Giving dyadic data analysis away : a user-friendly app for actor-partner interdependence models

The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) is widely used for analyzing dyadic data. Although dyadic research has become immensely popular, its statistical complexity might be a barrier. To remedy this, a free user-friendly web application, called APIM_SEM, has been developed. This app automatically performs the statistical analyses (i.e., structural equation modeling) of both simple and more complex APIMs. It allows the researcher to analyze distinguishable or indistinguishable dyads, to examine dyadic patterns, to estimate actor and partner effects of one or two predictors, and to control for covariates. Results are provided in software and text format, complemented by summary tables and figures. As an illustration, the effect of romantic appraisal on relational satisfaction is assessed by fitting APIMs with varying complexity