system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I recently read Bowling Alone and am trying to understand some of the methodology behind it: what statistical methodology is used to a find a "best predictor"?

I feel like this is an embarrassing question to ask since I have a large econometrics background. I'm familiar with various forms of regression models and causal inference, but I feel like I'm missing something obvious here.

An example from Bowling Alone: "... the best predictor of which children successfully avoided such problems was the degree to which their mothers where enmeshed in a supportive social network, lived in a socially supportive neighborhood, and attended church regularly"

What statistical technique(s) is (are) used to find the "best predictor?"
gpt
it's hard to say without more specifics about his modeling strategies. Perhaps he's just using that as a shorthand of saying "the strongest correlation coefficient" or "the largest standardized beta"?