Questionable prospective effects of self-esteem on anxiety and academic self-efficacy: a simulated reanalysis and comment on Cao and Liu (2024)

It is important for researchers to be aware that correlations, including adjusted cross-lagged effects, do not prove causality in order not to overinterpret findings, something that appears to have happened to Cao and Liu. We recommend researchers to triangulate by fitting complementary models to their data in order to evaluate if observed effects may be due to true causal effects or if they appear to be spurious.