On the use of Item Response Models in the SEM perspective.

For the analysis of complex models for latent constructs measured with several items, the Structural Equation Models (SEM) are being widely disseminated. In this study, our intent is to show how to include in a SEM framework an Item Response Model (IRM), in order to preserve the important characteristics that distinguish this type of approach, such as the possibility of calculate the measurement scales and the reduction of the complexity of the model. We compare these results with a standard SEM.