Approximations to the Distributions of Fit Indexes for Misspecified Structural Equation Models

Approximations to the distributions of goodness-of-fit indexes in structural equation modeling are derived with the assumption of multivariate normality and slight misspecification of models. The fit indexes considered in this article are Joreskog and Sorbom's goodness-of-fit index (GFI) and the adjusted GFI, McDonald's absolute GFI, Steiger and Lind's root mean squared error of approximation, Steiger's Γ₁ and Γ₂, Bentler and Bonett's normed fit index, Bollen's incremental fit index and ρ₁, Tucker and Lewis's index ρ₂, and Bentler's fit index (McDonald and Marsh's relative noncentrality index). An approximation to the asymptotic covariance matrix for the fit indexes is derived by using the delta method. Furthermore, approximations to the densities of the fit indexes are obtained from the transformations of the asymptotically noncentral chi-square distributed variable. A simulation is carried out to confirm the accuracy of the approximations.