bifactory: (Bifactor) ESEM with Continuous (MLR) or Ordinal (WLSMV) Data

Fits bifactor exploratory structural equation models (B-ESEM), together with standard exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), for continuous and ordinal data. Continuous models use 'lavaan' native efa() blocks with robust maximum likelihood (MLR) estimation. Ordinal ESEM defaults to the 'lavaan' weighted least squares mean- and variance-adjusted (WLSMV) estimator; ordinal B-ESEM uses a custom diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) path with polychoric correlations from 'lavaan', rotation-delta standard errors via 'numDeriv', and a mean- and variance-adjusted chi-square. Target, geomin, and oblimin rotations use 'GPArotation'; the bifactor ESEM approach follows Morin, Arens and Marsh (2016) <doi:10.1080/10705511.2014.961800>. Additional features include multi-group measurement invariance (configural through strict, with partial invariance), ESEM-within-CFA conversion, McDonald's omega reliability suite, and the Mehrvarz and Rouder (2026) <doi:10.31234/osf.io/95enc_v3> alignment ratio check for independent cluster model confirmatory factor analysis (ICM-CFA) misspecification. An optional 'MplusAutomation' interface allows side-by-side comparison with 'Mplus' output.

install.packages("bifactory")

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