Question

Data show that men who are married, and also divorced or widowed men, earn quite a bit more than men the same age who have never been married. This does not mean that a man can raise his income by getting married because men who have never been married are different from married men in many ways other than marital status. Suggest one possible lurking variable that might help explain the association between marital status and income.

Choose the most plausible suggestion from the choices.
A. Men who are married, widowed, or divorced are usually more committed both in their personal and professional lives, enabling them to succeed in their careers.
B. Married, widowed, or divorced men have high income jobs. A high income job tends to make an individual more dedicated. This dedication leads a man to get married.
C. High income leads to greater commitment, which leads to marriage. Thus, we see that high income should actually be associated with men who have never been married.
D. Married, widowed, or divorced men tend to be more committed as well as men with high income jobs. From this, we may safely conclude that getting married leads to a high income job.

Answer 1

B. Married, widowed, or divorced men have high income jobs. A high income job tends to make an individual more dedicated. This dedication leads a man to get married.

Explanation:

A lurking variable is one that is not measured in the given study but it will affect the relationship between the explanatory and response variables.

Now, in this case, we see that divorced or widowed men, are said to earn quite a little more than men that are of the same age who have never been married.

Now, we are told it does not imply that a man can raise his income by getting married.

This means that majority who have high income tend to consider getting married.

Thus, we can infer that having a high income job leads to a man being more dedicated and this leads him to getting married.