PrepTest 132, Section 4, Question 22
Researchers have found that children in large families—particularly(27 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AIn countries where(19 more words not shown)
- BChildren in small(15 more words not shown)
- CSome allergies are(12 more words not shown)
- DChildren whose parents(10 more words not shown)
- EChildren from small(24 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Do children in larger families actually encounter more germs? That is the connection the researchers need to make.
Their finding concerns family size and allergies. Their explanation concerns germs during infancy. Those aren't the same thing. Larger families might differ in diet, inherited traits, or other ways, so the family-size pattern doesn't by itself identify germs as the cause.
What we’re looking for
To support the hypothesis, I'd like evidence connecting the pattern to early germ exposure. My first prediction is that infants in big families get more of that exposure, perhaps through their siblings.
Working the answers
- A
This gives us another version of the family-size pattern: fewer children per family accompanies more allergies. But it doesn't connect that change to germs. A pattern can appear again without establishing the particular explanation proposed for it. We need help with the cause, not just another statement of the association.
- B
This introduces a possible difference in diet. If children in small families eat more allergenic foods, food exposure could help explain the allergy pattern. That doesn't support the claim that germ exposure during infancy is responsible; it points us toward a competing explanation.
- C
How dangerous allergies are compared with germ-caused diseases doesn't tell us why children develop allergies. The hypothesis concerns whether early exposure reduces that likelihood, not whether exposure would be an attractive trade-off given the severity of different illnesses.
- D
Inherited susceptibility may matter, but D doesn't link parents' allergies to family size or early germ exposure. Parents with allergies might have large or small families. This general fact doesn't explain why the family-size pattern supports the researchers' specific hypothesis.
- ECorrect
This supplies a useful comparison within small families. Children entering day care before age one spend their infancy around other children, creating opportunities for germ exposure like those older siblings might provide at home. Those children developed fewer allergies than children who entered later.
The timing matters: the proposed benefit comes from exposure during infancy. E connects earlier contact with other children to lower allergy rates even without a large family. That supports the germ-exposure explanation, though it doesn't prove that no other difference between the groups mattered.
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