Hello!
I'm hoping someone can help me interpret an unexpected negative value for a beta that I obtained in a hierarchical multiple linear regression. I do not believe it is a suppressor variable as a) the sum of the squared semi-partials are not greater than the r-squared, b) the r-squared is less than .5, and c) there doesn't seem to be anything too wonky in the correlations (technical term!)
 A little background about my study... I'm trying to see if one of three executive function assessments better predict academic achievement. The 3 IVs are a performance-based measure of inhibition, a teacher's rating of inhibition, and a teacher's rating of attention. The DV is a score on an academic test (i.e., reading, math, or science-- each one run separately). The teacher's rating of inhibition has negative beta values in about half of the models (I'm looking at 3 different subjects across 2 different grades).
I'm not sure how to interpret it or what to do about it, if it is uninterpretable.
I would greatly appreciate any help.
Thank you!!
--Emily

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Emily Ciesielski
PhD Candidate
Communication Sciences and Disorders
University of Cincinnati
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#SPSSStatistics