University students who drink may have grown up in families with a lot of stress that may not have valued education.Therefore,a correlation found between grades and drinking may be caused by pre-existing conditions for the students.If so,the correlation between grades and drinking would be considered:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A spurious relationship is one where two variables appear to be related, but their relationship is actually caused by a third variable. In this case, the correlation between grades and drinking is not a direct cause-and-effect relationship, but rather may be influenced by a third variable such as family stress or values placed on education.

University Students Who Drink May Have Grown Up in Families