Question

Rank the correlations Consider each of the following relationships: the heights of fathers and the heights of their adult sons, the heights of husbands and the heights of their wives, and the heights of women at age 4 and their heights at age 18. Rank the correlations Page Number: $174$between these pairs of variables from largest to smallest. Explain your reasoning.

Short answer

Women at age $4$ and $18$ has the largest correlations, then the heights of fathers and sons and the last correlation which has the smallest correlation among them is husbands and their wives.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

The heights of women at age $4$ and their heights at age $18$

Explanation

The greatest link exists between women's height at age four and their height at age eighteen, because it is self-evident that as a person becomes older, he or she will grow taller. The father and their adult sons would be the next with the highest correlation. Tall fathers have taller sons. The sons may or may not be as tall as their father, but they will be tall. The relationship between husbands and spouses has the lowest correlation. In general, husbands are taller than their spouses, but there is no association between the two.

Thus, Women at age $4$ and $18$ has the largest correlations, then the heights of fathers and sons and the last correlation which has the smallest correlation among them is husbands and their wives.