Greetings, I am working in the sem package on a model with 3 exogenous variables (2 are nominal-categorical), and 4 endogenous, continuous variables. To use sem with the nominal variables, I created dummy variables. Now, in my sem output I have estimates for path coefficients for the relationship between each level of the nominal variables and the endogenous variables they are associated with. However, what I am interested are the overall path coefficients from each nominal variable to the various endogenous variables, not the relationship between each level of this and the endogenous variables. How might I go about achieving this? Here is my model ('sex' and 'trt' are the nominal variables with 2 and 4 levels, respectively) followed by the relevant output: Path Parameter 1 sexMale->nect sexnect 2 sexMale->cono sexcono 3 sexMale->herb sexherb 4 sexMale->para sexpara 5 trtControl->nect trtContnect 6 trtControl->cono trtContcono 7 trtControl->herb trtContherb 8 trtControl->para trtContpara 9 trtNoFemale->nect trtNoFemnect 10 trtNoFemale->cono trtNoFemcono 11 trtNoFemale->herb trtNoFemherb 12 trtNoFemale->para trtNoFempara 13 trtNoMale->nect trtNoMalenect 14 trtNoMale->cono trtNoMalecono 15 trtNoMale->herb trtNoMaleherb 16 trtNoMale->para trtNoMalepara 17 area->nect areanect 18 area->cono areacono 19 area->herb areaherb 20 area->para areapara 21 nect<->para nect<->para 22 nect<->herb nectherb 23 nect<->cono nectcono 24 cono<->herb conoherb 25 cono<->para conopara 26 area<->area errorarea 27 nect<->nect errornect 28 cono<->cono errorcono 29 herb<->herb errorherb 30 para<->para errorpara 31 trtControl<->trtControl errortrtControl 32 trtNoFemale<->trtNoFemale errorNoFemale 33 trtNoMale<->trtNoMale errortrtNoMale 34 sexMale<->sexMale errorsexMale Parameter Estimates Estimate Std Error z value Pr(>|z|) sexnect -0.01929179 0.06376330 -0.3025532 7.6223e-01 sexcono -2.66789515 0.36084653 -7.3934344 1.4300e-13 sexherb -0.00743378 0.00566452 -1.3123412 1.8941e-01 sexpara 0.01097552 0.00980425 1.1194652 2.6294e-01 trtContnect 0.21164052 0.08736725 2.4224240 1.5417e-02 trtContcono -0.44791548 0.54528423 -0.8214349 4.1140e-01 trtContherb -0.00038585 0.00756348 -0.0510144 9.5931e-01 trtContpara -0.00015034 0.06098602 -0.0024651 9.9803e-01 trtNoFemnect 0.11658323 0.08786423 1.3268566 1.8456e-01 trtNoFemcono -0.10709039 0.55754523 -0.1920748 8.4768e-01 trtNoFemherb -0.00412156 0.00777418 -0.5301598 5.9600e-01 trtNoFempara 0.00420467 0.03406450 0.1234325 9.0176e-01 trtNoMalenect 0.23656338 0.08897775 2.6586801 7.8447e-03 trtNoMalecono 0.07633944 0.60103928 0.1270124 8.9893e-01 trtNoMaleherb -0.00156381 0.00788036 -0.1984436 8.4270e-01 trtNoMalepara 0.00910566 0.03304680 0.2755383 7.8290e-01 areanect 0.01097847 0.02250164 0.4878965 6.2562e-01 areacono 0.37431397 0.12725982 2.9413367 3.2680e-03 areaherb -0.00169721 0.00200841 -0.8450508 3.9808e-01 areapara 0.00044190 0.00365491 0.1209054 9.0377e-01 nect<->para 0.00399596 0.00425721 0.9386334 3.4792e-01 nectherb -0.00028131 0.00245373 -0.1146438 9.0873e-01 nectcono 0.52509632 0.15739193 3.3362340 8.4922e-04 conoherb 0.01380912 0.01401081 0.9856041 3.2433e-01 conopara 0.01752004 0.02413323 0.7259716 4.6786e-01 errorarea 1.90255983 0.08980542 21.1853566 0.0000e+00 errornect 0.82560204 0.03897074 21.1851759 0.0000e+00 errorcono 26.60775814 1.25597309 21.1849746 0.0000e+00 errorherb 0.00661525 0.00031226 21.1851940 0.0000e+00 errorpara 0.01967170 0.00092856 21.1852827 0.0000e+00 errortrtControl 0.19005279 0.00897095 21.1853556 0.0000e+00 errorNoFemale 0.18331925 0.00865314 21.1852797 0.0000e+00 errortrtNoMale 0.19059782 0.00899668 21.1853547 0.0000e+00 errorsexMale 0.24736468 0.01167625 21.1852846 0.0000e+00 Thanks, Gus