1) Which set of research findings was used in the Supreme Court case of Brown v.
Entertainment Merchants (2010), which was a case that debated whether banning the
sale of violent video games to minors was unconstitutional?
A.Careful studies have indicated that playing violent video games does not make
adolescents more aggressive.
B.Careful studies have indicated that playing violent video games indeed makes
adolescents more aggressive.
C.Putting labels on games to alert adolescents and their parents to violent content is an
effective way of restricting the sale of particularly violent games.
D.There is a causal relation between playing violent video games and being arrested for
an assault.
2) Which groups are most likely to disengage from school during early adolescence?
A.girls and affluent adolescents
B.girls and students from poor families
C.boys and affluent adolescents
D.boys and students from poor families
3) What do the most recent models of the psychological process of achievement during
adolescence illustrate?
A.students’ beliefs about their abilities influence their motivation
B.students’ motivation influences their performance
C.students’ performance influences their beliefs
D.All of the above are true.
4) Who of the following individuals is likely to believe that it is always wrong to
exclude others?
A.Gwendolyn, who is trying to decide who to invite to her th birthday party
B.Amy, who is a member of a high-status peer group at her high school
C.Tina, an adolescent who has a sophisticated understanding of peer group dynamics
D.Carl, a senior on the high school football team.
5) Adolescents who come from family environments in which parents have set
unrealistically high standards for their children’s achievement and react very negatively
to failure are most likely to develop:
A.mastery motivation.
B.a fear of failure.
C.Type-A personality characteristics.
D.a high achievement motivation.
6) Until recently, what aspect of teenage sexuality did social scientists focus on?
A.Until the late 1990s, it was taboo to study teenage sex.
B.Just like identity, autonomy, and intimacy, researchers have always studied the
normative aspects of adolescent sexuality.
C.Until fairly recently, researchers only focused on the problematic aspects of
adolescent sexuality (precocious sex, promiscuous sex, unsafe sex, etc.).
D.Until fairly recently, most researchers were preoccupied with understanding
adolescent sexuality and, as a result, important topics, such as promiscuous sex and
unsafe sex, were neglected.
7) Most research with respect to oral sex between adolescents has indicated that:
A.in general, most teenagers are more likely to engage in vaginal intercourse than oral
sex.
B.many teenagers give and receive oral sex promiscuously.
C.there is a large proportion of adolescents who exclusively engage in oral sex.
D.the vast majority of teenagers who engage in oral sex also engage in sexual (vaginal)
intercourse and promiscuity is not the norm for either activity.
8) What might explain why adolescence has been elongated?
A.the delayed onset of puberty
B.recent brain imaging studies that have indicated that the prefrontal cortex is still
developing until the age of 25
C.the failure of young adults to settle down in marriage-like relationships
D.the increased importance of formal education in making a successful transition into
adult roles
9) Parker, a senior in high school, is looking for a job. What type of job is he least likely
to take?
A.stock boy in a retail store
B.cashier at a minimart
C.pizza delivery driver
D.baby-sitter
10) Research shows that the enormous sums of money spent by tobacco companies on
marketing cigarettes to teenagers are:
A.pretty much a waste because the marketing strategies have little effect on adolescents.
B.unnecessary because adolescents would smoke even without the extensive
advertising.
C.does not cause adolescents to start smoking; tobacco advertising is mainly effective at
brand recognition.
D.important in getting adolescents to stop smoking because these companies now are
required to sponsor antismoking ads.
11) Which of the following statements about the history of the student worker is not
true?
A.The proportion of American high school students holding part-time jobs rose
dramatically during the 1970s.
B.The proportion of American high School students holding part-time jobs has
decreased in the last 15 years.
C.The proportion of American High school students holding part-time jobs increased
dramatically during the first decade of the twenty-first century.
D.The proportion of American high school students holding part-time jobs declined
during the first four decades of the twentieth century.
12) Which of the following changes explains why adolescents, compared to children,
may be better able to concentrate and stay focused on reading tasks?
A.increasing use of mnemonic devices
B.becoming more flexible with strategy use
C.increasing speed of information processing
D.improvements in attention
13) Based on Grisso and colleague’s competency study, should we assume a 15-year-old
is definitely more competent than a mentally ill adult who has been found not
competent to stand trial? What about a 13-year-old?
A.No, about 1/5 of 14- to 15-year-olds and about 1/3 of 13 and younger children are
likely to be found to be as impaired in their abilities to stand trial as mentally ill adults
who have been determined to be not competent to stand trial.
B.The 15-year-old is definitely more competent to stand trial than a mentally ill adult;
however, it is likely that the 13-year-old would be as impaired in her ability as a
mentally ill adult.
C.Both adolescents are likely to be more competent than a mentally ill adult who has
been determined to be not competent.
D.The results from the Grisso study cannot be used to predict whether a 15- or
13-year-old would be competent to stand trial.
14) The fact that most books for parents of teenagers tend to focus on the problems
instead of normative development is concerning because:
A.the stereotypes are usually based on facts.
B.the more parents believe in the stereotypes, the worse their relationships with their
teenagers become.
C.most parents have no idea what to expect when their children reach adolescence.
D.the more parents believe that they are going to have a difficult time with their
adolescent, the less likely that the parents will create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
15) What would Stephanie, a high school student, say is the best part about going to
school?
A.learning new information
B.being with friends
C.interacting with the teachers
D.participating in extracurricular activities
16) Many individuals have argued that older adolescents should have the right to seek
health care services without parental knowledge or consent because:
A.the basic cognitive abilities that are most likely necessary to make these kinds of
decisions are typically fully developed by the age of 16.
B.have more rights than younger adolescents.
C.are at an age where they could legally become emancipated.
D. are more sexually active than younger adolescents.
17) What was one of the results of the Guyer and colleagues’ (00) study, where
teenagers were imaged with fMRI equipment while they thought they were
participating in a networking task with other teenagers (in reality, the study was rigged
such that they were automatically provided with positive or negative feedback)?
A.When the adolescents were told that other teenagers were interested in them, areas of
their brains known to be sensitive to rewards were activated.
B.When the adolescents were told that other teenagers were interested in them, no areas
of their brains were activated.
C.When the adolescents were told that other teenagers were interested in them, areas of
the brain that are activated during highly stressful events were activated.
D. When the adolescents were told that other teenagers were interested in them, the
prefrontal cortex was fully activated.
18) Which statement is most likely true about American adolescents today?
A.Adolescents are experimenting with drugs at later ages.
B.Marijuana is the only substance used by a substantial number of high school seniors
daily.
C.Experimentation with drugs is less common among younger teens than it had been in
the past
D.A large proportion of adolescents use hard drugs.
19) Which adolescent is at highest risk for suicide?
A.Black males
B.Hispanic females
C.White females
D.American Indian/Alaskan Native males