Chapter 14 & 15

Question 1

Compared with their parents’ generation, baby boomers (born 1946 – 1965) have reached middle adulthood with

A. Less diversity
B. Less political involvement
C. Less optimistic views of middle age
D. More remaining single and not having children

Answer 1

D. More remaining single and not having children

Question 2

At the beginning of the twentieth century, middle age began at about what age?

A. 50
B. 60
C. 40
D. 30

Answer 2

D. 30

Question 3

High (more than twelve hours a week) versus low (less than two hours per week) exposure to the sun had which of the following effects on the skin of young and middle-aged women?

A. High exposure results in older appearance in both young and middle aged women
B. Low exposure results in older appearance in both young and middle aged women
C. High exposure results in an older appearance in young women only
D. High exposure results in an older appearance in middle aged women only

Answer 3

D. High exposure results in an older appearance in middle aged women only

Question 4

Most fifty-year-old adults need bifocals or reading glasses because

A. Changes in retinal circulation
B. Thickened lenses make accommodation harder
C. Of changes in the length of the eyeball
D. Pupil does not dilate at the same speed

Answer 4

B. Thickened lenses make accommodation harder

Question 5

Age-related changes due to illness or disease are termed

A. Primary ageing
B. Biological ageing
C. Functional ageing
D. Secondary ageing

Answer 5

D. Secondary ageing

Question 6

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the gender gap in the mortality rate of men and women from heart disease?

A. More men die from it earlier, but evens out in middle age
B. In later years, more men die from it than women
C. In middle age, the risk is equal
D. In older adulthood, more women die from it than men

Answer 6

B. In later years, more men die from it than women

Question 7

How do men and women compare on morbidity and mortality rates?

A. Men have higher morbidity and mortality rates
B. Women have higher morbidity and mortality rates
C. Men have higher morbidity rates and women have higher mortality rates
D. Women have higher morbidity rates and men have higher mortality rates

Answer 7

Women have higher morbidity rates and men have higher mortality rates

Question 8

Results from the Dunedin Multidiscipline Health and Development Study have shown what to be the strongest predictor of poor self-rated health at midlife?

A. Role limitations
B. Employment status
C. Gender
D. Mental health status

Answer 8

B. Employment status

Question 9

The Australian National Mental Health and Well-Being Survey found that midlife adults have ________ rates of anxiety and affective disorders than older adults.

A. Higher
B. Lower
C. Equal
D. Equivalent

Answer 9

A. Higher

Question 10

A fortune teller once told Paul that he would have to deal with the most common cancer among males. If the fortune teller was accurate, middle-aged Paul needs to pay attention to medical screening for

A. Skin cancer
B. Prostate cancer
C. Lung cancer
D. Stomach cancer

Answer 10

B. Prostate cancer

Question 11

When the term is used correctly, menopause is the

A. Beginning of a dramatic change in women’s reproductive system
B.Process of a dramatic change in women’s reproductive system
C. Ending of a dramatic change in women’s reproductive system
D. Total cessation of oestrogen production in middle-aged women

Answer 11

C. Ending of a dramatic change in women’s reproductive system

Question 12

The Japanese language does not have a word corresponding to which of the following English terms?

A. Menopause
B. Insomnia
C. Climacteric
D. Hot flushes

Answer 12

D. Hot flushes

Question 13

Which group of women is less likely to experience hot flushes?

A. Obese women
B. Tall women
C. Slender women
D. Short women

Answer 13

A. Obese women

Question 14

Terrance was giving a lecture about changes in sexual responses during the middle adulthood years. Unfortunately, he made several mistakes during this lecture and only one of the following statements that he made was accurate. Which of Terrence’s statements was correct?

A. ‘Middle-aged women often have reduced vaginal lubrication’
B ‘Orgasms tend to be more intense than earlier years’
C. ‘Both men and women take longer to get aroused and to return to pre arousal levels’
D. ‘men take longer to attain erection but shorter refractory periods’

Answer 14

A. ‘Middle-aged women often have reduced vaginal lubrication’

Question 15

Smart aleck Brent wanted to show his parents that psychologists think that they are getting less intelligent and over the next few decades they will lose even more of their intelligence. Brent does not care if he presents the full and fair scientific picture of intelligence, he just wants to feel brighter than his parents and try to get them to agree. Therefore, Brent should concentrate on locating which kinds of studies of intelligence to ‘prove’ his point?

A. Longitudinal studies
B. Sequencial studies
C. Cross-sectional studies
D. Animal maze learning studies

Answer 15

C. Cross-sectional studies

Question 16

Fifty-five-year-old Helen tells her relatives that her intellectual ability is surely declining and cites the following examples of her decline. Which of her personal examples would fit Schaie’s general findings in the Seattle Longitudinal Study about intellectual changes during middle age?

A. ‘I’m not as good at reading a map as I used to be’
B’ ‘I can’t interpret the bus timetable as easily as I used to’
C. ‘I take longer to remember peoples names than I used to’
D. ‘I’‘m not as good at adding up prices as I used to be

Answer 16

C. ‘I take longer to remember peoples names than I used to’

word fluency

Question 17

All of the following factors are associated with maintaining good cognitive functioning in later life except

A. Developing high levels of performance speed
B. Having a partner with high cognitive functioning
C. Having good education or a complex occupation
D. Having a stable, constant personality

Answer 17

D. Having a stable, constant personality

Question 18

Fifty-year-old Harry finds that his teenage daughter is better able to process new information than he is. This represents Harry’s declining

A. Fluid intelligence
B. Spatial orientation
C. Inductive reasoning
D. Crystallised intelligence

Answer 18

A. Fluid intelligence

Question 19

Compared with practical intelligence, expertise is

A. Applying intelligence to everyday activities
B. Specialised experience in specific areas
C. Genetically determined
D. More common because it can be taught

Answer 19

B. Specialised experience in specific areas

Question 20

Which of the following is true about gender and returning to tertiary education in midlife?

A. Men demonstrate more barriers to adult learning
B. Women show greater variation in their reasons for adult learning
C. Men are more triggered by career transitions
D. Men and women are equally likely to cite children as a reason for dropping out of studies

Answer 20

B. Women show greater variation in their reasons for adult learning

Question 21

In Krueger and Heckhausen’s study of personality self-descriptions, the adults who rated their personalities the highest were in their

A. 30s
B. 40s
C. 50s
D. 60s

Answer 21

D. 60s

Question 22

Compared with upper-middle-class adults, working class adults were more likely to describe middle adult years as

A. Beginning in the fifth decade
B. A period of great productivity
C. Being past one’s prime
D. The peak of physical strength

Answer 22

C. Being past one’s prime

Question 23

Karl, a gay man, has found that in middle adulthood he is more involved in raising awareness and activism on issues that affect the GLBT community. Which of Kertzner’s themes is Karl addressing?

A. Self realisation
B. Transformation
C. Accommodation
D. Encumbrance

Answer 23

B. Transformation

Question 24

Charlene says that she thinks that all human beings are connected to each other and that our thoughts and experiences influence the mental life of all human beings now and in the future. Her friend James suggests that she might want to read more about Jung’s _________ to see if that concept fits her beliefs.

A. Collective unconscious
B. Psyche
C. Shadow
D. Individuation

Answer 24

A. Collective unconscious

Question 25

Twenty-nine-year-old Helena went to a counsellor to discuss her sadness about being childless. She feels like all of her friends are already parents, and that this is the best age for it. Her medical doctor assures her that both she and her husband are fertile, but this does not quell her anxiety. Which of the following concepts would be most useful to the psychologist in helping Helena understand her emotions?

A. Generativity
B. Social clock projects
C. Non-normative life events
D. Anima

Answer 25

B. Social clock projects

Question 26

Research by McAdams and associates arrived at which finding concerning the role of generativity in adult lives?

A. It is greatest is early adulthood
B. It increases during middle age and decreases in older adulthood
C. it increases during middle age and stays important during older adulthood
D. It is equally important through all of adulthood

Answer 26

C. it increases during middle age and stays important during older adulthood

Question 27

Paul Costa, Roger Gould, Daniel Levinson, and George Vaillant were having a discussion about people’s experiences during the middle adulthood years. In their lively chat, supportive comments about ‘the midlife crisis’ kept being mentioned by three of the four participants in the conversation. Which of the psychologists did not emphasise the idea of the midlife crisis?

A. Costa
B. Gould
C. Levinson
D. Vailant

Answer 27

A. Costa

Question 28

Georgia is a young woman with three children at home. Virginia also has three children but they are older and out of Virginia’s home. Compared with Georgia, Virginia is more likely to

A. Be happier with her marriage
B. Be more depressed
C. Have a lower sense of well-being
D. Feel less powerful

Answer 28

A. Be happier with her marriage

Question 29

Harry has been described as being persistent and motivated to achieve. Harry would definitely score above average on which of these ‘big five’ personality dimensions.

A. Openness to experience
B. Neurotism
C. Extroversion
D. Conscientiousness

Answer 29

D. Conscientiousness

Question 30

Helson and McCabe found which of the following to be true of midlife women participants in the Mills Longitudinal study?

A. Moratorium identity = more likely to be single
B. Foreclosure identity = more likely to be in traditional marriages
C. Moratorium identity = less likely to make successful life adaptions
D. All four identity statuses associated with making good adaptions

Answer 30

B. Foreclosure identity = more likely to be in traditional marriages

Question 31

Compared with middle-aged couples, elderly couples were more likely to perceive _________ in their interactions with their partner.

A. Humour
B. Anger
C. Interest
D. Affection

Answer 31

D. Affection

Question 32

Burt and Rachel were reading an article on the family life cycle and figured out that theirs was a stage III family. Therefore, which of the following is true about Burt and Rachel?

A. They have two grown up, independent children
B. They have made the decision to have children
C. They have children in the 8th and 5th grade
D. They have children younger than school age

Answer 32

A. They have two grown up, independent children

Question 33

In comparing marital satisfaction and family stages, one might conclude that the couple with the highest satisfaction with marriage would be

A. A couple with 6 month old, 3 years old and 4 years old children
B. A couple with four grown up, married children
C. A couple that are newly married and do not have children
D. A couple with two children in the 6th grade

Answer 33

C. A couple that are newly married and do not have children

Question 34

Sixty percent of divorces are of

A. couples who have been married less than five years
B. Couples who have been married for over ten years
C. Couples who have been married for over twenty five years
D. Couples who have been married for between five and nine years

Answer 34

B. Couples who have been married for over ten years

Question 35

Parents who wish to maximise their chances of satisfactorily parenting their teenage children should consider which of the following parenting styles?

A. Authoritarian
B. Permissive-indifferent
C. Authoritative
D. Permissive-indulgent

Answer 35

C. Authoritative

Question 36

Which of the following is not a predictor of an adult child living with their parents?

A. Increasing housing costs
B. Socio-economic status
C. Remaining single
D. Gender

Answer 36

B. Socio-economic status

Question 37

Which of the following is true about the timing of grandparenthood?

A. People will become grandparents earlier in future
B. Grand parenting began earlier in the 1900s than it does now
C. Grand parenting has become a less central role
D. The majority of grand parents get three or four decades in the role

Answer 37

D. The majority of grand parents get three or four decades in the role

Question 38

Who is most likely to take care of an ageing parent?

A. The spouse
B. An adult daughter
C. An adult son
D. A professional

Answer 38

A. The spouse

Question 39

When it comes to leisure activities, women are more likely than men to

A. Travel
B. Exercise
C. Attend concerts
D. Watch sports

Answer 39

C. Attend concerts

Question 40

After his father died, George went through a time of exploring the ambivalent feelings about his father, often feeling angry and let down. According to Dane, which tasks of mourning was Greg exploring?

A. Stocktaking
B. Internalisation
C. Passing
D. Reminiscence

Answer 40

D. Reminiscence