regsem: Regularized Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract: The regsem package in R, an implementation of regularized structural equation modeling (RegSEM; Jacobucci, Grimm, and McArdle 2016), was recently developed with the goal of incorporating various forms of penalized likelihood estimation in a broad array of structural equations models. The forms of regularization include both the ridge (Hoerl and Kennard 1970) and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso; Tibshirani 1996), along with sparser extensions. RegSEM is particularly useful for structural equation models that have a small parameter to sample size ratio, as the addition of penalties can reduce the complexity, thus reducing the bias of the parameter estimates. The paper covers the algorithmic details and an overview of the use of regsem with the application of both factor analysis and latent growth curve models.