Mediation or Moderation

[sedki zn]

Dear all,
Hope you are doing Great

I'm trying to study a relationship where there exists a Causal relationship between the IV and DV
So here I'm applying the SEM ( simultaneous equations model) through 2SLS/3SLS
At the same time I'm trying to investigate the role of an M variable in this relationship ..
Is this M variable playing a Moderating or a Mediating role !???
Y = X + M + Control.V
X = Y + M + Control.V

Kind regards
Sedki

[Rich Goldstein]

neither; if M was a mediator then M would be on the left of the equals sign in one of your models; if M was a moderator, there would be an interaction; instead this looks like two-way causation; you should read some of the many examples; type

h sem

and click on "examples" near the top

[sedki zn]

neither; if M was a mediator then M would be on the left of the equals sign in one of your models; if M was a moderator, there would be an interaction; instead this looks like two-way causation; you should read some of the many examples; type

h sem

and click on "examples" near the top

thank you dear Rich for your reply

I'm getting confused as I find an article (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full...9.2022.2090662) in which the author treats this linkage as a mediation

kind regards