Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has become an increasingly used methodological strategy in clinical psychology. The purpose of this paper is to outline a set of procedures for the optimizing use of SEM. The steps involved: (1) clarification of the phenomenon; (2) development of the model; (3)tesing of the model; (4) refinement of the model; and (5) assessment of the model.A research on adolescents' initiation of dieting was applied to illustrate the use of SEM.