ͳ͵ͺ
CHAPTER 7
COMMUNICATION AND FAMILY ROLES AND TYPES
TRUE/FALSE
other family members.
feminine behaviors expected of them.
about the way a person should be performing a role than the role performer
has.
father as relatively stable and unchanging.
predict if she sees balance in her roles.
and reflect feelings before persuading.
home or work while another egalitarian couple may strive for a nearly 50-
50 balance between home and work.
ͳ͵ͻ
the family has decreased.
predictor of life stages.
strongly identify as either masculine or feminine.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Alberto and Lawanda both work full time. He is a doctor and she is a
psychotherapist. They have not had children together. He has two sons by a previous
marriage. Which answer best describes this couple?
A. A dual career-earner couple
2. In Endres’ study of father-daughter relationship, there were four special roles.
Which one is not one of those roles?
A. Buddy
3. In Kantor and Lehr’s description of family process, the target set of dimensions
include which of the following?
A. Space, meaning, energy
4. Which of the following might not be considered a kinship maintenance function?
A. Calling your friend to help get your nephew a summer job
ͳͶͲ
5. Mary Alice manages a large farm. Her husband travels and sells large road
machinery. She buys the farm equipment and feeder cattle. He helps clean house on
weekends and assists on the farm. This couple provides a behavioral example of:
A. Bisexuality
6. Which of the following is not an essential family function in roles?
A. Providing resources for food and shelter
7. Which is not found in Gottman’s couple types?
D. Conflict avoiders
8. The following example illustrates which of Fitzpatrick’s types?
As a couple, Pat and Carma accept the change and uncertainty of their careers and
home life. They tend to ignore schedules and expected values.
D. Independent/separates
9. The following example illustrates which of Kantor and Lehr’s typologies?
Jayne and Jose avoid censorship, force and threat in dealing with their three active
adolescents. They permit one another and their children to challenge decisions and
yet require them to consider the rights of each other.
A. Random
ͳͶͳ
10. Identify according to Kantor and Lehr’s family types:
Family X: In our family, we eat together every night (no exceptions!), follow a
schedule for chores and attend church as a family each Sunday (no exceptions!)
Family Y: In our family, members tend to grab most meals out of the refrigerator
whenever they’re hungry, pick up around the house when it gets bad and have
friends over a lot.
D. None of the above
11. According to Hochschild, among marital couples where both partners work, three
types of marital roles merge. Which is not one of those types?
A. Traditional
12. Which is the correct term for a family that, as being high in conversation orientation
and low in conformity, has open communication and emotionally supports each
other?
A. Consensual
13. Among women who are highly educated and in the top 10% of earning power,
which of the following statements is true?
D. None of the above
14. Gender socialization includes:
A. Providing children with toys appropriate for their sex
ͳͶʹ
15. Adam walks his daughter down the aisle and turns to his new son-in-law, shaking
his hand. “She’s all yours now, son,” he says, “Take good care of my little girl.”
With this statement, Adam is participating in which of the following:
D. Role appropriation
16. The notion that parents may have better relationships with some children than others
is called:
A. Favoritism
17. Who has the most impact on how people enact their roles?
A. Parents
18. Matt and Lisa just had a baby, and Lisa has started to feel completely overwhelmed
by the sheer volume of work she feels she has to do to take care of the baby and
maintain the housework. She and Matt have begun arguing about his responsibilities
now that he is a father. The process that Matt and Lisa are experiencing is called:
D. Dialectical tensions
19. Which of the following family/couple types focuses on the interplay between conversation
orientation and conformity orientation?
D. Gottman’s Couple Types
20. The following illustrates which of Fitzpatrick’s couple types?
Pete and Paula as a couple accept the change and uncertainty of their careers and home life.
They usually ignore schedules and expected values.
ͳͶ͵
D. Mixed
21. Parents Crosby and Jasmine disagree on the proper way to discipline their six-year-old son for
hitting his sister. Crosby believes that, as good parents, they should spank him; Jasmine
believes that they should put him in time-out. What part of the role appropriation process does
this demonstrate?
A. Role creation
22. In middle school, Rikki was subject to some teasing from the girls in her class. Her parents
decided not to intervene as a way to empower her to manage difficult people. According to
McMaster’s Model of Family Functioning, which role function are her parents exhibiting?
A. Providing gender modeling
23. In the Miller household, the sons and daughters are expected to do all of the chores, not just
the ones typically associated with their respective genders. So, for example, Scott often
vacuums the floors and washes the dishes, and Linda often mows the lawn. In terms of family
roles, what type of family are the Millers?
D. Progressive-oriented
24. A teenage daughter and her father are fighting about curfew. The daughter says, “why do I
have to come home at 9 o’clock, anyway?!” and the father says, “Because I said so. End of
discussion.” According to the Fitzpatrick & Ritchie Family Types, what type of family is this?
A. Consensual
25. Which of the four forms of power in marriages is most closely aligned to the position-oriented
approach to family roles?
ͳͶͶ
A. Autonomic
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast the two couple typologies or the two family typologies. What
do these typologies have in common? What is different between them? Would it be
possible to use more than one typology at the same time to describe a family or
couple?
2. Using McMaster’s Model of Family Functioning, explain how your own family, a
family you know, or a fictional family fulfills (or does not fulfill) these role functions.