Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is a statistical method used to compare means across different groups. When individuals are grouped together, like in schools, the traditional MANOVA assumptions may not hold true. This study compared two methods for testing group mean differences in these situations. The results showed that the multilevel MANOVA and multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) methods both controlled errors well and had similar power, with SEM slightly outperforming MANOVA in some cases.