The nation's obesity epidemic is declining! Or so two researchers claimed after analyzing their longitudinal data on the inherited aspects of people's self-reported weight. Specifically, they found that the heaviest 10 percent of the country tend to have slightly less heavy children. Therefore, if we extrapolate this effect out to three or four generations, even the heaviest people will much lighter than their great great grandparents, and considerably closer to the nation's average (healthy) weight. (a) Is this conclusion warranted - why or why not? (b) What other explanations might there be for this observed decrease in people's weight? (c) Explain whether this is a regression artifact or a regression fallacy.

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The Answer of The nation's obesity epidemic is declining! Or so two researchers claimed after analyzing their longitudinal data on the inherited aspects of people's self-reported weight. Specifically, they found that the heaviest 10 percent of the country tend to have slightly less heavy children. Therefore, if we extrapolate this effect out to three or four generations, even the heaviest people will much lighter than their great great grandparents, and considerably closer to the nation's average (healthy) weight. (a) Is this conclusion warranted - why or why not? (b) What other explanations might there be for this observed decrease in people's weight? (c) Explain whether this is a regression artifact or a regression fallacy.

The Nation's Obesity Epidemic Is Declining! or So Two Researchers