It is a well-documented fact that for all teenage couples who marry,

Question

It is a well-documented fact that for all teenage couples who marry, the marriages of those who do not have children in the first year of their marriage survive more than twice as long as the marriages of those teenage couples in which the wife does give birth within the first 12 months of marriage. Therefore, many divorces could be avoided if teenagers who marry were encouraged to seek counseling on birth control as soon after marriage as possible.

The evidence regarding teenage marriages supports the author’s conclusion only if

(A) in those couples to which a child was born within the first 12 months, there is not a significant number in which the wife was pregnant at the time of marriage

(B) the children born during the first year of marriage to those divorcing couples lived with the teenage couple

(C) the child born into such a marriage did not die at birth

(D) society actually has an interest in determining whether or not people should be divorced if there are not children involved

(E) encouraging people to stay married when they do not plan to have any children is a good idea

Source:  Master GMAT

JohnWidestone · Answer

(A) in those couples to which a child was born within the first 12 months, there is not a significant number in which the wife was pregnant at the time of marriage
 This must be true. Otherwise they might get married because of the pregnancy. Which clearly would not oppose the authors conclusion.

IMO: A

zoechrys · Answer

Hi,

Can anyone please explain in more detail how to get to the answer A?

Thanks a lot !!

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

The  main point  of the passage is that pregnancy and a child put strain on a young marriage, and so such marriages would have a higher survival rate without the strain of children. It would seem, then, that encouraging such couples not to have children would help them stay married; but that will be possible only if they have not already committed themselves, so to speak, to having a child. If the wife is already pregnant at the time of marriage, the commitment has already been made, so the advice is too late.

(B) and (C)  are wrong for similar reasons. It is not only the continued presence of the child in the marriage that causes the stress but the very pregnancy and birth. So  (B) and (C)  do not address themselves to the birth of the child, and that is the factor to which the author attributes the dissolution of the marriage.

(D)  is wide of the mark. Whether society does or does not have such an interest, the author has shown us a causal linkage, that is, a mere fact of the matter. The author states: If this, then fewer divorces. The author may or may not believe there should be fewer divorces.

(E)  is wrong for this reason also, and for the further reason that it says  “do not plan”  to have children. The author’s concern is with children during the early part of the marriage. There is no suggestion that couples should never have children.

The correct answer is (A).

VerbalBot · Answer

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It is a well-documented fact that for all teenage couples who marry,

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