Question: It is true of both men and women that those who marry as young adults live longer than those who never marry. This does not show that marriage causes people to live longer, since, as compared with other people of the same age, young adults who are about to get married have fewer of unhealthy habits that can cause a person to have a shorter life, most notably smoking and immoderate drinking of alcohol.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

(A) Marriage tends to cause people to engage less regularly in sports that involve risk of bodily harm.
(B) A married person who has an unhealthy habit is more likely to give up that habit than a person with the same habit who is unmarried.
(C) A person who smokes is much more likely than a nonsmoker to marry a person who smokes at the time of marriage, and the same is true for people who drink alcohol immoderately.
(D) Among people who marry as young adults, most of those who give up an unhealthy habit after marriage do not resume the habit later in life.
(E) Among people who as young adults neither drink alcohol immoderately nor smoke, those who never marry live as long as those who marry.

Answer: E
Explanation: On the critical reasoning section of the GMAT, analytical and critical thinking skills are evaluated. Strong cognitive skills are required for the individual to respond coherently.
Younger folks who marry live longer than those who don't.
Young folks who are engaged or recently divorced have fewer bad behaviors than older adults.
Conclusion - Less unhealthy habits, not marriage, extend your life.

Let's look at each option separately.

A: Incorrect
Marriage tends to make people participate less frequently in physically dangerous sports.
People who are married are safer. doesn't support our case.

B: Incorrect
A married person who has a bad habit is more likely to stop doing it than an unmarried person who has the same bad habit.
A person's life is made healthier by marriage. doesn't support our case.

C: Incorrect
People who consume alcohol excessively and smokers are considerably more likely to marry one another than nonsmokers to be smokers at the time of marriage.
Irrelevant

D: Incorrect
Among young adults who marry, the majority of individuals who quit a bad habit after getting married don't pick it up again later in life.
We don't know how married and single people who give up compare to one another. We don't know if single people who once gave up unhealthy behaviors later on in life pick them back up. Marriage is responsible for a healthy life if it makes people give up and never try again.

E: Correct
Among young individuals who don't smoke and don't consume alcohol excessively, those who never get married live just as long as those who do.
Demonstrates that having a spouse or not has no bearing on life expectancy. The lifespan of individuals without negative habits is greater than that of those who do.
It is the correct choice. Change in the exclusionary rule is also implied by the passage.

“It is true of both men and women that those who marry as young adults” – is a GMAT Critical question. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the argument's strengths and weaknesses or the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

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