1) Compared to when adults are interrogated by the police, juveniles are:
A.more likely to understand their rights.
B.less likely to confess to a crime than remain silent.
C.more likely to discuss disagreements with their attorney.
D.None of the above is true.
2) When calculating individual performance on an IQ test, a child who was of average
intelligence would have an IQ score of:
A.00.
B.00.
C.0.
D.There is no “average” IQ.
3) Which of the following statements about the secular trend is true?
A.There is currently no evidence that boys have followed the secular trend.
B.Evidence for the secular trend in boys can be found in reports from European
children’s choirs.
C.Experts agree that the secular trend (for boys and girls) has indeed continued in
recent years.
D.Scientists believe that the secular trend is caused by chemicals in the food supply.
4) According to a recent analysis of data from a sample of nationally representative
high school seniors, which of the following trends in regard to adolescents’ civic
engagement and political participation is true?
A.Since 1990, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of young people who
report participating in community service activities.
B.Since 1990, there has been a decrease in the proportion of young people who report
participating in conventional civic activities (example: voting, contracting elected
officials).
C.Since 1990, the proportion of young people who engage in alternative political
activities (e.g., boycotts, demonstrations) has fluctuated.
D.All of the above are true.
5) Many experts endorse a model of depression that suggests individuals who are
predisposed toward internalizing problems will develop depression when they are
exposed to chronic or acute stressors. This is called:
A.emotion-focused diagnosis.
B.the diathesis-stress model.
C.epidemiology.
D.antecedent diagnosis.
6) What is one research finding that supports the belief that the particular grade
configuration of a school is less important than the school’s educational climate?
A.In one study, sixth-grade girls attending elementary school, where they were the
oldest students, reported more fighting and more suicidal thoughts than their
counterparts who were in middle school.
B.In one study that was conducted in small, rural communities, there was more bullying
in K-8 and K-12 schools than in districts that had separate elementary and secondary
schools.
C.Neither of these statements supports the belief that the particular grade configuration
of a school is less important than the school’s educational climate.
D.Both of these statements support the belief that the particular grade configuration of a
school is less important than the school’s educational climate.
7) One discrepancy in the way that society treats adolescence is that courts have ruled
that teenagers have the right to obtain ________; however, the courts have also upheld
laws forbidding adolescents to obtain _____.
A.cigarettes; contraceptives
B.vulgar magazines; contraceptives
C.contraceptives; cigarettes or vulgar magazines
D.vulgar magazines; cigarettes
8) During the industrial revolution, child protectionists argued that:
A.a separate justice system must exist for juveniles.
B.adolescents needed parental permission to marry.
C.young people needed to be kept away from the labor force for their own good.
D. adolescent music was too controversial and needed to be censored
9) According to many well-designed studies that have looked at the psychological
consequences of growing up with lesbian or gay parents:
A.the quality of the parent-child relationships at home is more contentious than in
straight families.
B.children and adolescents with lesbian or gay parents are not psychologically different
from those with straight parents.
C.children and adolescents with lesbian or gay parents differ substantially from those
with straight parents in the domains of gender identity and sexual orientation.
D.children and adolescents with lesbian or gay parents suffer from more emotional
turmoil than children and adolescents with straight parents.
10) Which of the following statements is consistent with Piaget’s cognitive development
theory?
A.Individuals progress through stages based on biological readiness and maturation.
B.Individuals progress through stages based on the presence of environmental demands.
C.Individuals progress through stages based on biological readiness in addition to
increasing environmental demands.
D.Hypothetical thought is the foundation of adolescent thought.
11) The textbook indicates that parents’ and adolescents’ expectations influence each
other over time. What is one area in which parental expectations may play an especially
important role?
A.mathematics
B.science
C.writing
D.athletics
12) Changes in social definition will likely have profound effects on developments in
the domains of:
A.achievement, spirituality, and identity.
B.achievement, sexuality, and autonomy.
C.sexuality, achievement, and identity.
D.sexuality, autonomy, achievement, and identity.
13) One of your friends, Tom, has come to the realization that he is attracted to both
males and females. He is worried that he is the only one who feels attracted to peers of
his same-sex. He knows that you have just taken a class on adolescent sexuality and
asks you for some information regarding the prevalence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender adolescents. What would you tell him? He is also concerned that, although
he enjoys playing typical male sports, such as baseball and football, his attraction to
males will cause people to assume that he is more feminine than his heterosexual
teammates. Knowing that he likely has a bisexual orientation, what do you predict for
his gender identity and sex-role behavior? In your view, is homosexuality more due to
biological factors or social/contextual factors? Is there anything else that Tom should be
aware of?
14) Discuss the changes in the way(s) adolescents think about prosocial issues and the
changes in their willingness to engage in prosocial behavior. Do adolescents’ beliefs
about prosocial phenomena predict the extent to which they engage in prosocial
behavior? What do adolescents think about prosocial acts that have a self-serving goal?
What types of prosocial behavior are common among adolescents? Who is likely to
engage in service learning and what are the effects of volunteering? Is “forcing”
adolescents to “volunteer” likely to have positive impacts?
15) Annie’s parents believe Annie has free time on her hands and they would like to
sign her up for some extracurricular activities. However, they are concerned that
participation in these activities may lead to problem behavior and that overscheduling
could place their daughter at risk for psychological stress and mental health problems.
They are also worried that extracurricular participation could displace time spent doing
homework and, as a result, could decrease her academic performance. They’ve asked
you, the school psychologist, to weigh in. What would you tell Annie’s parents?
16) You are giving a guest lecture to a bunch of college students. Define three types of
autonomy and describe an example of each.
17) Explain how adolescents in the United States use their time differently than
adolescents growing up in other parts of the world. Be sure to discuss school, leisure,
and work-related activities. When applicable, discuss possible reasons for these
differences.
18) You are a specialist in adolescent development and have been invited to serve as an
expert witness in a high profile case. The case involves a 15-year-old girl who is being
charged with a gruesome first-degree murder. The judge would like to hold this girl to
the same standards of criminal responsibility as he would an adult. As such, the judge
has chosen to process this girl in a criminal court. Do you think the teenage murderer
would be competent to stand trial in a criminal court? Based on what you know about
the legal boundaries between childhood and adulthood, do you agree with the judge’s
decision? Where does our society typically draw the line between adolescence and
adulthood?
19) Adam and his family have been living in chronic poverty for the last few years. His
mother has asked you (an expert!) whether their family’s financial strain will place
Adam at risk for psychological difficulties and problem behavior. She also asks you
whether there is anything she can do alleviate the effects of poverty. What would you
tell her?
20) Fifteen-year-old Maya’s parents are worried about her. Maya seems to be sleepy all
the time. She sometimes falls asleep at the kitchen table when she gets home from
school, but stays up late at night, past 11 p.m., when her parents go to sleep. Maya also
seems to be irritable a lot of the time. On weekends, Maya usually sleeps until noon,
even though her parents have asked her to get up earlier to help with chores. Maya’s
parents insist that she never had any problems like this when she was younger. How
would you explain the changes in Maya’s behavior (particularly her sleep changes) to
her parents?
21) Discuss Anna Freud’s view, the psychoanalytic approach, of autonomy during early
adolescence. How does her perspective differ from that of contemporary writers?
22) Anita cannot understand why adolescents are more likely than any other age group
to engage in risky behaviors. She has learned in class that individuals undergo
significant cognitive advancements during adolescence, and in fact, many adolescents
aged and older use the same basic processes that adults use to make decisions. Your
instructor has asked you to explain to Anita why risk taking may peak during
adolescence. What do you tell her?