Actor–partner interdependence model
statistical framework for analyzing data from dyads
The actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) is a statistical framework for analyzing data from dyads such as romantic partners, parents and children, friends, or other closely connected pairs. It is used for dyadic settings in which the two members’ responses are statistically non-independent. In this framework, associations within individuals (actor effects) and across partners (partner effects) are estimated in a single model.
APIM has been commonly used in social, developmental, clinical, and health psychology to study interpersonal processes including relationship satisfaction, conflict, parenting, health behaviors, and well-being. The model can be implemented in several statistical frameworks, most commonly multilevel models and structural equation models. The model has also been extended to include mediation, moderation, and longitudinal designs.
Development
Early methodological discussions in social psychology raised concerns about non-independence in dyadic and group data, including work on separating individual- and group-level effects in nested data. Related work showed that ignoring non-independence can bias standard errors and statistical tests when data are analysed as if observations were independent. The social relations model provided a related methodological framework for representing interdependence as a component of interpersonal data.
Kenny, Kashy, and collaborators described a general approach in which each member’s outcome is predicted by both their own predictor and their partner’s predictor.
The public source identifies “Actor–partner interdependence model” as statistical framework for analyzing data from dyads. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Actor, partner and interdependence.
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