depression!

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depression!

by gmat_for_life » Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:48 pm
A recent study shows that teenagers participating in after school creative activities such as music and painting are more likely to show symptoms of depression than teenagers who do not engage in such activities. It was also observed that teenagers who participated exclusively in sports showed the least signs of depression. Although one cannot conclude from these results that depression is caused merely by participating in creative activities, there is definitely a correlation between depression and engagement in such activities as the study also showed that
_____________________________________________________________________________

Which of the following statements most logically completes the above passage?

A-girls participating in after-school creative activities reported higher rates of depression than boys participating in such activities.

B-teenagers participating in activities such as music and painting were found to be significantly more introverted than teenagers participating in sports activities.

C-there was no difference between the magnitudes of the depressive symptoms observed in teenagers who participated in both creative and sports activities and those who participated just in creative ones.

D-some very famous musicians and painters are patients of a psychological disorder called schizophrenia.

E-the use of mood enhancing drugs was more prevalent among the students of schools winning various arts competitions than in the students of schools winning sports competitions.

[spoiler]The OA is C. Could you guys please explain why option E is incorrect?[/spoiler]

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by theperegrine » Tue Jul 05, 2016 7:19 am
E is incorrect due to the following:
1. Use of mood enhancing drugs does not necessarily mean the students participating in arts competitions are depressed.
2. We are not talking about numbers in the main argument. Arguing on the basis of volume might lead one to sample biases.
3. C establishes a better correlation than does E.

Helps?
Last edited by theperegrine on Tue Jul 05, 2016 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by MartyMurray » Tue Jul 05, 2016 7:20 am
gmat_for_life wrote:[spoiler]The OA is C. Could you guys please explain why option E is incorrect?[/spoiler]
E is a trap answer the is connected to the prompt and the question only via an unwarranted assumption, that the use of mood enhancing drugs by students at a school that wins arts competitions indicates a connection between creative activities and depression.

One thing to notice is that E does not say that students who are involved in the arts competitions are the ones who use the drugs. E says only that students at the schools that win the competitions use the drugs. For all you know the students using the drugs are not the students involved in the competitions.

Another thing to notice is that E is about mood enhancing drugs rather than depression. There is nothing in the answer choice that actually connects the use of mood enhancing drugs to depression, and maybe that fact is what really eliminates E. While maybe you made that connection in your mind, that there is such a connection is actually not at all clear. If E had mentioned anti depressant drugs rather than mood enhancing drugs, maybe it would have made more sense as the right answer.
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