Modeling psychological processes in tinnitus disorder: Comparison of quantitative methods

Tinnitus is a common experience, and a minority of people experience severe distress related to their tinnitus. Studies of the contribution of psychological factors are often small and replications are rare. Here we examined adults ( N  = 125) with tinnitus distress who responded to an average of 96 surveys regarding tinnitus distress, anxiety and worry, and cognitive symptoms. We replicated previous findings using dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM). In addition, we examined an alternative method, the group iterative multiple model estimation (GIMME) procedure. Findings across methods suggested that most relationships between tinnitus distress and the psychological factors assessed in this study occurred contemporaneously or across a shorter time lag than that used here. Whereas DSEM found significant prospective cross-construct effects overall, GIMME suggested such paths were limited to individuals rather than groups or subgroups. Future work should examine how such modeling can inform prediction of outcomes (e.g., treatment effects).