Solved – Interpreting multiple regression coefficients with 2 continuous variables interacting and 2 categorical variables interacting

interactionmultiple regressionregression

I find it challenging to interpret interaction effects in OLS multiple regression where the interactions are between two categorical variables and between two continuous variables.

Say for instance that the interaction between sexfemale: medmobility is -10.1, where sexfemale is a categorical variable with male as the reference group and medmobility is a categorical variable where low mobility is the reference group. What is the meaning of that coefficient, -10.1?

Likewise, what if you have an interaction between two continuous variables, say for instance between weight and IQ (weight:IQ) If the coefficient is, for example, 1.3 what does that mean? How does the interpretation change if both have been centered?

What about the main effects of these variables?

Best Answer

As @gung said, it would help if you gave your full equation and DV, but, here, if the interaction between sex-female and mobility is -10.1, it means that the effect of high mobility on the dependent variable is 10.1 units less for women then men. Similarly, the effect of being female on the DV is 10.1 units less for high mobility people than for low.

For continuous variables, it is much the same, except that it is per unit of the other IV. So, 1.3 for the interaction between weight and IQ means that the effect of IQ on the DV is 1.3 units higher for each increase of one unit (pound? kilogram?) of weight, and the effect of weight is 1.3 units higher for each increase of 1 point in IQ. In other words, the effect is more positive for people who are both smart and heavy than for people who are one or the other.