In statistics, a mediation model is one that seeks to identify and explicate the mechanism or process that

underlies an observed relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable via the
inclusion of a third explanatory variable, known as a mediator variable. Rather than hypothesizing a direct
causal relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, a mediational model
hypothesizes that the independent variable influences the mediator variable, which in turn influences the
dependent variable. Thus, the mediator variable serves to clarify the nature of the relationship between
the independent and dependent variables.
[1]
In other words, mediating relationships occur when a third
variable plays an important rol
Researchers are now focusing their studies on better understanding known findings. Mediation analyses
are employed to understand a known relationship by exploring the underlying mechanism or process by
which one variable (X) influences another variable (Y) through a mediator (M). For example, suppose a
cause X affects a variable (Y) presumably through some intermediate process (M).
[2]
In other words X
leads to M leads to Y. Thus, if gender is thought to be the cause of some characteristic, one assumes that
other social or biological mechanisms associated with gender can explain how gender-associated
differences arise. Such an intervening variable is called a mediator.e in governing the relationship
between the other two variables