Exponential consistency of M-estimators in generalized linear mixed models

Abstract

Generalized linear mixed models are powerful tools for analyzing clustered data, where the unknown parameters are classically (and most commonly) estimated by the maximum likelihood and restricted maximum likelihood procedures. However, since the likelihood-based procedures are known to be highly sensitive to outliers, M-estimators have become popular as a means to obtain robust estimates under possible data contamination. In this paper, we prove that for sufficiently smooth general loss functions defining the M-estimators in generalized linear mixed models, the tail probability of the deviation between the estimated and the true regression coefficients has an exponential bound. This implies an exponential rate of consistency of these M-estimators under appropriate assumptions, generalizing the existing exponential consistency results from univariate to multivariate responses. We have illustrated this theoretical result further for the special examples of the maximum likelihood estimator and the robust minimum density power divergence estimator, a popular example of model-based M-estimators, in the settings of linear and logistic mixed models, comparing it with the empirical rate of convergence through simulation studies.