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Book Cover
Human Development: Updated, 7/e
James Vander Zanden, Ohio State University
Thomas Crandell, Broome Community College
Corinne Crandell, Broome Community College

Middle Adulthood: Emotional and Social Development

Factual Multiple Choice



1

David Levinson and colleagues at Yale University researched the stages of male adult development and concluded that
A)there is a stage of "male menopause"
B)men have a pathological fear of aging and dying
C)men at middle age often become keenly aware of how much more time is left to accomplish life goals
D)most men actually do go through a mid-life crisis, and many are likely to make drastic changes in their lives at this time
2

Many men at age 50 begin to realize that
A)their lives are over and they begin to plan their retirement from the labor force
B)they are likely to go downhill physically and sexually from this point on
C)this is a time to introspect and take stock of the priorities in life
D)it's now or never for the big promotions and attack their work with zeal
3

The middle years can also be referred to as a "crisis point" for some couples
A)as they realize their sexual desire is waning because of physical changes
B)as the wife desires to resume her career, while the husband is readying for exiting the work world
C)because the husband is likely to be seeking younger sex partners to reaffirm his masculinity
D)as the woman typically settles into the "grandmothering" stage and is probably less interested in regular sexual activity
4

Erik Erikson deems the central task of middle age to be resolving the issue of
A)identity vs. identity diffusion
B)intimacy vs. isolation
C)generativity vs. stagnation
D)maturity vs. immaturity
5

Developmentalists McAdams and de St. Aubin see ________ as springing from two deeply rooted desires: the communal need to be nurturant and the personal desire to do something or be something that transcends death.
A)empathy
B)personality
C)maturity
D)generativity
6

Robert Peck's aspect of mid-life which concerns the ability to become emotionally flexible is called
A)socializing vs. sexualizing
B)mental flexibility vs. mental rigidity
C)cathectic flexibility vs. cathectic impoverishment
D)valuing wisdom vs. physical powers
7

According to Peck, individuals cultivate greater understanding and compassion when they confront the mid-life task of
A)mental flexibility vs. mental rigidity
B)cathectic flexibility vs. cathectic impoverishment
C)valuing wisdom vs. valuing physical powers
D)socializing vs. sexualizing in human relationships
8

Until recently, most psychologists believed that personality patterns are established during early childhood and then remained relatively stable throughout life. Which model is being described?
A)situational model
B)trait model
C)interactionist model
D)psychoanalytic model
9

According to the ________ model of adult personality development, people seek out congenial environments that reinforce their preexisting bents.
A)situational
B)interactionist
C)dynamic
D)trait
10

Neugarten suggests that middle age typically brings a(n)
A)concern with one's legacy or psychological survivorship
B)renunciation of life's losses
C)awareness of oneself as the "breadwinner"
D)different reactions depending on socioeconomic status
11

Gutmann has compared individuals in a number of cultures and finds that with advancing age
A)both men and women tend to move toward more passive mastery
B)both men and women tend to move toward more active mastery
C)men tend to move toward passive mastery, and women tend to move toward more active mastery
D)men tend to move toward more active mastery, and women tend to move toward passive mastery
12

According to Gutmann, in later life those people who age successfully tend towards androgyny, which is
A)incorporating both male-typed and female-typed characteristics within a single personality
B)having the same view of themselves over time
C)having mental pictures of themselves that are relatively temporary
D)moving from passive mastery to active mastery
13

The capacity of individuals to undergo continual change in order to adapt successfully and cope flexibly with the demands and responsibilities of life best defines
A)maturity
B)sanity
C)stability
D)satisfaction
14

The view we have of ourselves through time as "the real me" is referred to as
A)self-image
B)self-concept
C)personality
D)maturity
15

The mature personality will have which of the following traits?
A)relate warmly to others
B)possess emotional security
C)wide sense of self
D)all of the above
16

Which substage of Levinson's model of male development includes reappraisal and exploration of one's self
A)mid-life transition
B)age 50 transition
C)late adult transition
D)all of the above
17

Women in Levinson's model constituted three groups. Which is not one of these groups?
A)women in academia
B)homemakers
C)athletes
D)women in the corporate world
18

Sociologists Blumstein and Schwartz, investigating the experiences of different types of couples, found that
A)straight and homosexual women emphasize power and dominance in their relationships
B)even when wives had full-time jobs, they did most of the housework
C)married couples measured their financial success in terms of total earned income
D)quantity and quality of sex were more important for homosexual couples than for heterosexual couples
19

Heterosexual men take the most pleasure in their partner's success when
A)it is nearly equal to their own
B)it is superior to their own
C)it is inferior to their own
D)it is in an area vastly outside of their own
20

Married couples measured their financial success by looking at
A)the wife's income
B)the husband's income
C)their joint income
D)a variety of factors including income, benefits, flextime, childcare, pension, etc.
21

Women's prime of life, according to Mills Longitudinal Study, is at
A)30, the world is my oyster, no responsibilities
B)40, the kids are in school, I can start my life
C)50, family and work are past, I have accomplished one thing so I'll begin another
D)60, I can see the world with a clear eye, time to make up for lost time
22

Being simultaneously responsible for children and parents is a task of the
A)baby boom generation
B)sandwich generation
C)interactionist generation
D)alienated generation
23

What is a major reason for successful marriage listed by both men and women?
A)when women tend to think sex will bring tenderness and emotional expressiveness
B)when men tend to express their love through sex rather than through emotional expressiveness and tenderness
C)having a positive attitude towards one's spouse
D)all of the above
24

Which of the following statements regarding sexual relations is accurate?
A)Extramarital affairs tend to decrease at age 50.
B)20 year old women are as likely as 40 year old women to enter extramarital relations.
C)Extramarital transgressions usually indicate loneliness or lack of excitement.
D)The incidence of marital infidelity has declined as couples realize that sexual activity is their marital obligation.
25

In a study of couples who have had extramarital affairs, researchers did not find
A)husbands are more likely than wives to engage in and repeat extramarital affairs
B)men are more likely than women to let an extramarital affair blossom into an full-fledged love affair
C)most people transgress the marital relationship because they are very dissatisfied with their spouse
D)sex is the major lure for extramarital love affairs
26

According to 1998 statistics, a married woman has a greater risk of going through a divorce
A)if she doesn't have a high school diploma
B)if she marries young
C)if she has no children
D)all of the above
27

The overall divorce rate now seems to be
A)slowly increasing
B)dramatically increasing
C)slowly decreasing
D)about the same as the past twenty years
28

The displaced homemaker is likely to be devastated by divorce because
A)divorce is more uncommon in this group of people
B)she has a more difficult time forming new sexual relationships
C)she is ill-equipped to deal with the financial consequences of divorce
D)she is more likely than the working wife to have positive feelings toward her husband
29

Men who do not remarry are more likely to suffer from
A)more care accidents
B)drug abuse
C)alcoholism
D)all of the above
30

Studies show that men are likely to seek a mate who is
A)physically and emotionally at odds with them
B)younger than they are
C)financially on a par with them
D)more educated than they are
31

Middle-aged couples whose children left home have been found to experience
A)the empty-nest syndrome
B)feelings of new freedom
C)marital discord and discontent
D)the desire to go to college or start a business
32

For members of the sandwich generation
A)responsibility for the elderly falls most commonly on daughters and daughters-in-law
B)men are most likely to experience role overload
C)elderly parents are considered a burden and are rarely taken care of
D)elderly parents are more likely to be taken care of if the parents live far away
33

The best defenses against job burnout are
A)good pay and job security
B)apathy and fatalism
C)self-respect and a chance to perform well
D)idealism and high expectations
34

According to a recent survey, what percentage of Americans polled switched careers last year?
A)more than 75 percent
B)over 50 percent
C)12 percent
D)25 percent
35

Job insecurity in the United States has been rising because of all of the following except
A)automation and technological advances
B)corporate downsizing
C)globalization of the economy
D)underskilled labor force
36

Kaufman's fourth stage of unemployment is
A)resignation, withdrawal, settling for other work
B)high levels of self-doubt and anxiety, a bleak outlook
C)great financial difficulty, possibly divorce
D)shock, relief, relaxation
37

According to Levinson, the phase in adult development in which people come to terms with their youth and work on individuation is called
A)settling down
B)age 30 transition
C)entry into life structure
D)mid-life transition