Chapter 10
Multiple Choice
1. Some scholars believe that a new developmental stage should be created to include:
a. 18– to 29-year olds
b. 90+ year olds
c. Pre-teen years
d. Mid-life crises
2. Traditional life stage models have been criticized because
a. Too few stages are considered
b. They don’t take into account ethnic backgrounds
c. They focus on individuals instead of whole families
d. They don’t account for families without children
3. Three types of time are used to explain a life course perspective. Which one is not commonly
used?
a. Individual time that refers to chronological age
b. Generational time that refers to the positions and roles that individuals hold in families,
such as brother or breadwinner
c. Birth order time that refers to spacing of children and the order in which children are
born into families
d. Historical time that refers to major events that happen during the era in which one lives,
such as September 11
4. In Carter and McGoldrick’s model of stressors, some are classified as horizontal and others
vertical. Which of the following describes vertical stressors?
a. Stressors, which include predictable and unpredictable issues that a family has to cope
with as members move through the life cycles
b. Stressors that come from family-of-origin, including myths, rules, themes, and
boundaries
c. Stressors that regulate the flow of time, energy, and meaning through the life cycle
d. Stressors that follow a hierarchy related to the chronological events in the life cycle
from birth to death
5. Which statement agrees with the research on the initial parenthood stage?
a. Wives become more emotional during the pregnancy
b. New parents become less affectionate and less openly communicative with one another
c. Proximity to grandparents helps the couple financially and emotionally
d. The more fathers feel that mothers view them as competent, the more they participate
in childcare
6. All of the following are challenges found in the independent life stage except:
a. Developmental tasks in areas of work and relationships
b. Physical and hormonal changes
c. Economic and financial pressures
d. Parental separation processes
7. Which statement is not true about “end of life” issues in families?
a. Most end-of-life decisions are made in hospital intensive care units
b. Hospice care allows family members to interact with a loved one in a setting where
natural “letting go” processes can take place.
c. Elder care is most often carried out by sons, often the oldest
d. Death remains a difficult and taboo topic in many families
8. Family life cycles vary because:
a. More adults attend college
b. Children and parents go through the living of life’s events differently
c. Parents plan each child’s life differently
d. Mature adults plan birth orders differently
9. This commonplace term refers to the last child leaving home:
a. The caboose pulls out
b. End of the line
c. The empty nest
d. Launching young adults
10. Research suggests that one of the reasons why cohabitating couples marry is:
a. Cohabitation is a test to see if they would enjoy marriage
b. Finances are easier to manage in a marriage than in a cohabitating relationship
c. They decide to have children
d. It is harder to end a cohabitating relationship than a non-cohabitating dating
relationship
11. When two people get married, the most turbulent family tie in the extended family network
tends to be:
a. Father-in-law and son-in-law
b. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law
c. Sisters-in-law
d. Mother-in-law and son-in-law
12. A family therapist, Amy, uses a Life Course Approach to analyze communication in a family
struggling with an adolescent becoming sexually active at an early age. If Amy focused on the
communication between the adolescent and his father as an indicator of stress, on which type
of “time” is she focusing?
a. Individual time
b. Generational time
c. Historical time
d. Familial time
13. When does developmental stress occur?
a. When individuals/families experience critical periods of change or life stages.
b. When “on time” movement through stages is present.
c. When unexpected stressful events occur and disrupt family patterns.
d. All of the above
14. Differentiation of self from family, development of peer relationships, and establishing the self
in respect to work and financial independents are all changes associated with which
developmental stage in families?
a. Families with adolescents
b. Leaving home and single adulthood
c. Joining families through marriage
d. Launching children
Answer Key
Quiz True False
1. “Marker events” represent transition stages in human development, such as potty training, a
Bat Mitzvah, or graduation from high school.
a. True
b. False
2. From a life-course perspective, individual time refers to chronological age.
a. True
b. False
3. Horizontal stressors move across time and include developmental predictable stresses as well as
unpredictable crises that disrupt the family system.
a. True
b. False
4. Sibling competition is less evident when children are close in age and the same gender.
a. True
b. False
5. Information age devices (beepers, lap tops, cell phones, etc.) reduce stress on family members.
a. True
b. False
6. As elongated generational structures become the norm, great grandparents may be another
part of the lives of school-aged children.
a. True
b. False
7. Increasingly children of immigrants to the United States are becoming family translators about
what is happening in school, or in doctor’s office.
a. True
b. False
8. Because of increases in fertility and longevity, family structures are increasing in size as more
children are born into each generation and the older generation lives longer.
a. True
b. False
9. Taking a life-course perspective when a crisis occurs suggests that interruptions to careers,
educations, or incomes may cause more changes than timing in family stages.
a. True
b. False
10. The life-course approach recognizes all family members go through changes in similar ways at
about the same time and in spite of economic or environmental factors.
11. Marriage and committed partnership affects not only the two individuals involved but also their
extended families as well as future generations.
a. True
b. False
12. Parent-teenager conflicts are more likely to occur around drugs or sex than around simple topics
such as clothes, food, or chores.
a. True
b. False
13. If a couple cohabitates before marriage, the act of bonding or institutionalizing the relationship
through marriage does not really change the relationship dynamics very much.
a. True
b. False
14. Research shows that younger fathers tend to be more involved with their children and form
more affective ties with them.
a. True
b. False
15. Children begin their interpersonal learning within the first few months of life.
a. True
b. False
16. The Developmental Stages approach to family developmental stress is more person-centered
than the Family Stages Approach.
a. True
b. False
Answer Key
Chapter 10:
Explain why life course development can vary between races, and also because of stressful events in a
family’s life. What factors contribute to these variations between races? Discuss how some families are
forced to handle stressful situations differently.
Take one period of developmental stress in a family’s life and discuss three or four factors that affect the
communication in that family system. For example, you could discuss parents with newborn twins or
parents with two adolescents, etc.
Distinguish between a (a) developmental stages and life course approach to how families develop and
cope with stress. (b) What are the benefits and drawbacks of each?