Question

When people engage in activities that help others, their brain releases endorphins, the brain’s natural opiates, which induce in people a feeling of well-being. It has been suggested that regular release of endorphins increases people’s longevity. And a statistic on adults who regularly engage in volunteer work helping others shows that they live longer, on average, than adults who do not volunteer. However, that statistic would be what we would expect even if volunteering does not boost longevity, because _______.
(A) in the communities studied, women were much more likely to do regular volunteer work than men were, and women tend to live longer than men do.
(B) the number of young adults who do regular volunteer work is on the increase.
(C) the feelings of well-being induced by endorphins can, at least for a time, mask the symptoms of various conditions and diseases, provided the symptoms are mild.
(D) it is rare for a person to keep up a regular schedule of volunteer work throughout his or her life.
(E) Some people find that keeping a commitment to do regular volunteer work becomes a source of stress in their lives.

Answer 1

Answer:

(A) in the communities studied, women were much more likely to do regular volunteer work than men were, and women tend to live longer than men do.

Explanation:

In the text three associations are made:

1. volunteering --> endorphin release
2. endorphin release ---> longevity
3. volunteering ---> longevity

The question is why it might be the case that those who volunteer might, on average, live longer, than those who don't, even if the volunteering itself isn't conferring any benefit. In any other words, there must be something about the volunteering population that accounts for them having a longer life expectancy. We're looking for that something else - what feature does this group have that accounts for their longer lifespans?

Answer A is the only one that is relevant, stating that if women are disproportionately represented among volunteers, and women live longer than men do, then we'd expect volunteering populations to live longer than non-volunteering populations, even if volunteering wasn't conducive to long life.