Item response mixture modeling: Application to tobacco dependence criteria

This paper illustrates new hybrid latent variable models that are promising for phenotypical analyses. The hybrid models combine features of dimensional and categorical analyses seen in the conventional techniques of factor analysis and latent class analysis. The paper focuses on the analysis of categorical items, which presents especially challenging analyses with hybrid models and has recently been made practical in the Mplus program. The hybrid models are typically seen to fit data better than conventional models of factor analysis (IRT) and latent class analysis. An illustration is given in the form of analysis of tobacco dependence in a general population survey.