APA Tricky Situations: When Should You Capitalize Variables?

February 23, 2026

Brianna Torres

Lead Editor

In many of the quantitative dissertations I’ve edited, clients often get confused about their variables: to capitalize or not to capitalize? APA actually makes this pretty straightforward.

APA mostly uses a “down” style, which means most words are lowercase unless there’s a specific instruction to capitalize them—like proper nouns, titles of assessment scales, or the second part of hyphenated words in headings. The same rule applies to variables: keep them lowercase unless APA gives a reason to capitalize.

There are two cases in APA 7 where variables should be capitalized:

1. When they appear with multiplication signs (e.g., Gender × Race × Age)

2. When variables are derived from a factor or principal components analysis

In all other cases, variable names should stay lowercase. Here are some examples:

Example 1 (no capitalization): In this study, gender, race, and age were operationalized as independent demographic variables in the analysis.

Example 2 (appears with multiplication signs): In this study, Gender × Race × Age was included as a three-way interaction to examine how these variables work together to shape participants’ annual income.

Example 3 (factor analysis): Factor scores representing Academic Motivation, Study Habits, and Time Management were derived from participants’ survey responses and included as continuous predictor variables.

Example 4 (principal components analysis): Principal component scores for Cognitive Ability, Problem-Solving Skills, and Decision-Making Efficiency were derived from participants’ responses to a cognitive task battery and included as continuous predictor variables.

And that’s it, folks! Follow these rules, and your variables will always be APA-perfect.