Correlation – Difference Between Partial Correlation and Mediation

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If partial correlation looks at the correlation between variables A and B when controlling for C, how is this different from looking at the relationship between A and B with C as a mediator?

Best Answer

Mediation is a causal concept. It specifically refers to the causal relationship $A \rightarrow C \rightarrow B$; that is, $C$ comes temporally between $A$ and $B$ and is caused by $A$ and causes $B$. A mediator is a type of variable that has this property.

Partial correlation is a statistical concept that involves "partialing out" (i.e., removing) the association between $A$ and $C$ and between $B$ and $C$ before computing the correlations between $A$ and $B$. This identifies the association between $A$ and $B$ that is unrelated (linearly) to $C$. The types of variables that $A$, $B$, and $C$ are (i.e., whether they are mediators, treatments, outcomes, confounders, etc.) is irrelevant to computing and describing partial correlation.

When $A$ precedes $C$ and $C$ precedes $B$ (i.e., so $A$ is a treatment, $C$ is a potential mediator, and $B$ is an outcome), then the partial correlation of $A$ and $B$ controlling for $C$ is the direct effect of $A$ on $B$¹. The direct effect is a mediation concept and refers to the part of the relationship between $A$ and $B$ that is not mediated through $C$. When these variables have different meanings and causal orderings, the partial correlations may have different interpretations.

¹ Only when certain causal and modeling assumptions are met.