Instructor Resource
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior: The Changing Life Course 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Chapter 1: A Life Course Perspective
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. A(n) ______ perspective looks at how chronological age, relationships, common life
transitions, and social change shape people’s lives from birth to death.
A. person-in-environment
B. life course
C. developmental
D. identity development
2. A(n) ______ is the sequence of significant events, experiences, and transitions in a
person’s life.
A. developmental history
B. self history
C. personal history
D. event history
3. A cohort is similar, yet distinct from a(n) ______.
A. generation
B. team
C. family
D. observational group
4. A ______ is a significant occurrence in a person’s life that may produce serious and
long-lasting effects.
A. transition
B. trajectory
C. life event
D. turning point
5. A ______ is a change in roles and statuses that represent a distinct departure from
prior roles and statuses.
A. transition
B. trajectory
C. life event
D. turning point
6. A _____ is a life event or transition that produces a shift in the life course trajectory.
A. transition
B. trajectory
C. life event
D. turning point
7. A _____ is a long-term pattern of stability and change, which usually involves multiple
transitions.
A. transition
B. trajectory
C. life event
D. turning point
8. ______ is a major theme of the life course perspective which suggests that individual
and family development must be understood in a past context.
A. Timing of lives
B. Linked or interdependent lives
C. Developmental risk and protection
D. Interplay of human lives and historical time
9. The life course perspective is useful to social work because it acknowledges the
______ of people’s lives.
A. multidisciplinary nature
B. diversity
C. similarity
D. central purpose
10. ______ is a major theme of the life course perspective which suggests that
experiences with one life transition have an impact on subsequent transitions and
events and may either guard the life course trajectory or put it at risk.
A. Timing of lives
B. Diversity in life course trajectories
C. Developmental risk and protection
D. Interplay of human lives and historical time
11. A person’s ______ indicates their level of biological development and physical
health, as measured by the functioning of their various organ systems.
A. biological age
B. chronological age
C. psychological age
D. social age
12. The capacities that people have and the skills they use to adapt to changing
biological and environmental demands is ______.
A. biological age
B. chronological age
C. psychological age
D. social age
13. ______ represents age-graded roles and behaviors expected by society.
A. spiritual age
B. chronological age
C. psychological age
D. social age
14. ______ indicates the current position of a person in the ongoing search for meaning
and morally fulfilling relationships.
A. spiritual age
B. chronological age
C. psychological age
D. social age
15. Policies and laws that regulate timing of social role transitions are referred to as
______.
A. age norm
B. age structuring
C. age timing
D. age development
16. The behaviors that are expected of people of a specific age in a given society at a
particular point in time are referred to as ______.
A. age norm
B. age structuring
C. age timing
D. age development
17. The ability of some people to fare well in the face of risk factors is referred to as
______.
A. coping ability
B. adaptability
C. protection
D. resilience
18. The story of Phoung and her family’s experience resettling in southern California
after spending two years in a refugee camp highlights ______.
A. the importance of understanding intergenerational issues within a family
B. the importance of understanding the unique adjustments refugee or immigrant
families experience
C. how risk factors affect development
D. how protective factors affect development
19. An example of a typical age norm in the U.S. is that ______.
A. teenagers are too young to date
B. middle-aged men often experience mid-life crises
C. elderly people are bad drivers
D. children are expected to leave the parental home at 18
20. An off-time transition means that it ______.
Instructor Resource
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior: The Changing Life Course 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
A. does not occur at the typical stage in the life course
B. occurs multiple times at every life course stage
C. occurs only in certain cohorts
D. is atypical for the majority of young adults
21. The population pyramid helps us ______.
A. prioritize pay schedules across industry
B. understand the supply and demand of labor stratification by age cohorts
C. advocate for living wage subsidies for working class families
D. understand workplace discrimination
22. Disjoint agency is defined as agency that resides in ______.
A. developing countries
B. relationships between interdependent selves
C. developed countries
D. the independent self
23. Conjoint agency resides in ______.
A. relationships between interdependent selves
B. developing countries
C. developed countries
D. independent self
24. Self-efficacy is defined as ______.
A. personal productivity
B. self-esteem
C. sense of personal competence
D. expectation that one can personally accomplish a goal
25. Privilege can be described from a life course perspective as a(n) ______.
A. preferable lifestyle
B. earned advantage
C. high income lifestyle
D. trajectory of unearned advantage
26. Emma Suarez’s roles and responsibilities changed after she gave birth to Maria.
This change in roles and statuses is called a ______.
A. transition
B. life event
C. turning point
D. life timing
Instructor Resource
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior: The Changing Life Course 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
True/False
27. A person’s event history can include a day for which they have no specific
memories.
28. The life course perspective is a theoretical model based in social work.
29. The LCP views the life course as a straight path.
30. A life event refers to both the happening itself and the transition that occurs because
of that happening.
31. The same events of a particular historical era may affect different cohorts in different
ways.
32. The legal drinking age in the U.S. is an example of an age norm.
33. When a society develops policies and laws that regulate the timing of social role
transitions, it is called age structuring.
34. Parents’ lives are more influenced by the trajectories of their children’s lives than
vice versa.
Essay
35. Compare and contrast the differences between biological age, psychological age,
social age, and spiritual age.
36. Discuss the concepts of risk and protection in relation to the life course perspective.
Include in your discussion the ideas behind cumulative advantage, cumulative
disadvantage, privilege, and resilience. Provide examples in your discussion as related
to the case example of David Sanchez.
37. Discuss the strengths and limitations of the life course perspective. Include in your
discussion reasons why this approach to understanding human behavior is particularly
appropriate for social work practice.
38. How do we as a society support life transitions? What life transitions are most
supported by our social institutions? What life transitions are least supported by our
social institutions? Why?
39. What do you think is the government’s role in supporting individuals and families as
they age through the life course? Who currently benefits most from government aid?
What are your recommendations for change?
Instructor Resource
Hutchison, Dimensions of Human Behavior: The Changing Life Course 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
40. What do you think are the most significant/important risk factors in infancy and early
childhood? Do we as a society do enough to attend to these risk factors? If not, what
more can/should be done? How might such recommendations change life course
trajectories?