Deck 16: Socioemotional Development in Middle Adulthood

Question 1

Ben has created a series of life goals he would like to meet. He sees himself in the future as an independent and successful department manager at the accounting firm he would like to work for. He thinks about and prepares for all the skills needed to be an effective manager. He isn't necessarily thinking about family yet. Which of Levinson's phases is Ben demonstrating?

A) The age 30 transition.
B) The transition to early adulthood.
C) The transition to middle adulthood.
D) The transition to late adulthood.

Answer 1

The transition to early adulthood.

Question 2

What happens if an individual fails to develop a sense of generativity?

A) They will make a greater effort to depend on others to meet their needs instead of taking initiative and doing things for themselves.
B) They will regress back to the intimacy versus isolation stage.
C) They will experience a self-absorption that interferes with personal growth and prevents them from contributing to the welfare of others.
D) They will experience a self-focused sense of identity and rate higher on ratings of self-acceptance.

Answer 2

They will experience a self-absorption that interferes with personal growth and prevents them from contributing to the welfare of others.

Question 3

What influences generativity in men that is different than for women?

A) Generativity is influenced by psychosocial issues, like trust development, that occur earlier in life for men, but not for women.
B) Generativity is a stronger influence on well-being in men than it is on women.
C) Generativity is influenced by career success for men, but not for women.
D) Men who have children tend to score higher in measures of generativity than do childless men, although having children is not related to generativity in women.

Answer 3

Men who have children tend to score higher in measures of generativity than do childless men, although having children is not related to generativity in women.

Question 4

Monica has always been told how beautiful she is. As she reaches age 50, she still feels like she did when she was 20, but she is increasingly concerned about her appearance and is experiencing considerable distress related to her self-concept. Why is she having so much difficulty?

A) Women tend to have more youthful identities and perceive a greater disparity between how they feel and what they see in the mirror, leading to distress.
B) Monica receives all of her validation based on her looks.
C) Women tend be more influenced by social perception than they do their own personal views of themselves.
D) Women are not valued in Western cultures for aging.

Question 5

At what point in history did the term midlife crisis come into public consciousness?

A) The 1970s
B) The 1950s
C) The 1980s
D) The 1930s

Question 6

Which of the following Big 5 personality traits does not decrease in middle adulthood?

A) Neuroticism
B) Extroversion
C) Conscientiousness
D) Openness

Question 7

Who is more likely to be optimistic about their cognitive competencies, their ability to maintain memory, and other aspects of cognitive abilities regardless of their actual age?

A) David, a man with a partner and two children who sees himself exactly at the age he is.
B) Susan, a woman who behaves like a 25-year-old even though she is actually 50.
C) Andrea, a 50-year-old woman who has had mobility problems and tells everyone she feels like she is 80.
D) Mike, a man who is 45 years old but refuses to settle down and acts like a college student.

Question 8

Karen has put everything into her career. She travels for work and always says yes when they ask her to take on a new project. She is now reconsidering some decisions and has decided to look for a significant other that she can share her life with and start a family. What "season of life" is she in?

A) The age 30 transition.
B) The transition to early adulthood.
C) The transition to middle adulthood.
D) The transition to late adulthood.

Question 9

Which of Levinson's seasons of life is when adults reexamine their dreams of adolescence and early adulthood and evaluate their progress?

A) The age 30 transition.
B) The transition to early adulthood.
C) The transition to middle adulthood.
D) The transition to late adulthood.

Question 10

What characteristic is most often seen in individuals who have a crisis in midlife?

A) They have a stable job that they have been in for a long time.
B) They have had upheavals at other times in their lives.
C) They do not go on to college and marry early.
D) They enter a career path early on in adulthood without focusing on developing intimacy.

Question 11

What has been found to be the biggest concern regarding aging for people in midlife?

A) Maintaining the appearance of youth.
B) Losing contact with friends.
C) Maintaining physical activity and avoiding dependence on family.
D) Becoming less valued in society.

Question 12

What is the key element of Levinson's psychosocial theory?

A) The life structure, which refers to the overall organization of a person's life.
B) Generativity, a concern of responsibility for future generations.
C) Integrity, a sense of being a good person.
D) Midlife crisis, a stressful time in the early to middle 40s.

Question 13

Jack has always worked outside the home. He travels for work 3 days each week. His wife has had to take care of the household exclusively when he is away. He has two children in elementary school, and he misses a lot of their school activities. When Jack turned 45, he decided to take a different position in his company that didn't require travel and allowed him to work from home 2 days a week. What does Jack's shift in career focus illustrate?

A) Integrity
B) Generativity
C) Generational shift
D) The midlife crisis

Question 14

Which of the following Big 5 personality traits increases in middle adulthood?

A) Agreeableness
B) Neuroticism
C) Extroversion
D) Openness

Question 15

Which of the following does not describe the typical characteristics of an older middle-aged adult as compared to younger adults?

A) They are more autonomous.
B) They are less concerned with the evaluations and expectations of others.
C) They are more concerned with living up to self-chosen ideals and standards.
D) They are more dependent upon their adult children for self-validation.

Question 16

According to Levinson, what is the set of phases called that an adult progresses through in life?

A) Life progression
B) Developmental tasks
C) Life structure
D) Seasons of life

Question 17

What percentage of adults over age 40 have reported experiencing a midlife crisis?

A) 3% to 5%
B) 10% to 20%
C) 25% to 30%
D) 40% to 50%

Question 18

What do the Big 5 personality traits reflect?

A) Environmentally influenced characteristics that form through important relationships in life.
B) Inherited predispositions that persist throughout life.
C) Temperamental qualities.
D) Attachment classifications developed in childhood.

Question 19

Why do adults tend to consistently identify with their younger selves?

A) Adults tend to be more similar to their younger selves than they are different.
B) Adults overall tend to be very optimistic about their view of self and do not picture themselves as getting older.
C) They identify with what they developed during their creation of "the dream."
D) It is a compensatory strategy to counteract the negative cultural messages associated with aging and to maximize their happiness.

Question 20

How do researchers know that the midlife crisis is not universal?

A) The midlife crisis is only seen in minority status individuals.
B) Most adults of all ages tend to view middle adulthood as a positive time in life with increasing life satisfaction, self-esteem, and well-being.
C) Only males experience a true midlife crisis.
D) Only females experience a true midlife crisis.

Question 21

Who is more likely to complete college?

A) Mark, a person who is high in neuroticism.
B) Dana, a person who is high in conscientiousness.
C) Derrick, a person who is high in extroversion.
D) Laura, a person who is high in openness.

Question 22

Which of the following is not a characteristic of friendship in middle-adulthood?

A) Nearly 95% of middle-aged adults report having friends.
B) Most friends in midlife are old friends.
C) Friendships improve with age.
D) Middle-aged adults have more friends in midlife than in young adulthood.

Question 23

Friendships provide protection against _____ for both men and women.

A) osteoporosis
B) poverty
C) cardiovascular disease
D) stress

Question 24

Currently, women in the United States meet many of their social support needs through:

A) spending time with friends during the hours their husbands/partners are at work.
B) social networking on Internet sites such as Facebook.
C) interacting with their husbands or significant others.
D) coworkers and acquaintances, not close friends.

Question 25

Denise and Alex divorced when she was 29. She had been with Alex for 10 years. She is struggling with how to live as a single person. What area of divorce outcomes does this illustrate?

A) The challenge of developing friendships after divorce.
B) The challenge of financial instability.
C) The challenge to her sense of self.
D) The challenge of health risks.

Question 26

What trend is not consistent with the findings on marriage in middle adulthood?

A) Marital satisfaction is at its lowest point when couples have children.
B) Marital happiness tends to be highest during the first year of marriage.
C) Wives tend to be more satisfied with marriage throughout life than are husbands.
D) High-quality marital interactions predict marital satisfaction in women.

Question 27

Which of the following Big 5 personality traits is not associated with an increase in mortality risk?

A) Low conscientiousness
B) Low extroversion
C) High neuroticism
D) Low openness

Question 28

What characterizes friendships in middle adulthood?

A) Friendships are not as intimate in midlife as they were in young adulthood.
B) Individuals have more friends in midlife than in young adulthood, but very few are described as close and more as colleagues.
C) Individuals have fewer friends, but they are almost always described as close.
D) Friendships are less likely to be a source of social support because those in midlife turn most to family in times of need.

Question 29

What percentage of adults married by age 45?

A) 25%
B) 60%
C) 80%
D) 95%

Question 30

All of the following are outcomes for women who successfully transition through a divorce except:

A) greater tolerance.
B) more dependent on social relationships.
C) increased autonomy.
D) nonconformity.

Question 31

Divorce is thought to be more harmful to women's health than men's because:

A) it tends to represent a greater economic loss for women, including often a loss of health insurance.
B) women tend to invest more emotionally in the marriage than men.
C) men are able to separate their emotions from other parts of their lives.
D) it makes women feel like they are a failure since they are more relationship oriented and leads to depression.

Question 32

Which Big 5 personality trait is not associated with higher levels of well-being?

A) High in openness.
B) High in extroversion.
C) Low in neuroticism.
D) High in agreeableness.

Question 33

Which of the following relationships accurately describes the gender differences in friendship in middle adulthood?

A) Katrina and Renee are friends, but they never discuss personal matters with each other.
B) David and Kevin have been friends for 10 years, but the only time they get together is when they play basketball.
C) Roger and Rick are male friends who spend hours talking about their relationships with their spouses.
D) Jennifer spends more time with her friends than her husband, Andrew, spends with his.

Question 34

Why do parents experience a decline in well-being when their children experience some type of failure in adulthood?

A) The parents have more conflict with their children when they have experienced a failure in adulthood because they want to give advice and their children don't want to hear it.
B) The parents are likely to feel a sense of failure on their own part because they were not able to help them.
C) Parents are going to have a decline in well-being regardless of their children's failure because of the empty nest phenomenon.
D) The parents are more likely to have conflict with each other when their children experience failure because they do not always agree on how to help.

Question 35

Troy is a man who is very moody. He worries all the time about every little thing. He is irritable and not much fun to be around. What Big 5 personality trait does his behavior describe?

A) Openness
B) Neuroticism
C) Conscientiousness
D) Agreeableness

Question 36

Why do women find divorce more difficult than men?

A) Women ruminate more about arguments.
B) Women have more detailed memories of conflicts.
C) Women take the arguments more personally.
D) Women feel more depressed after arguments.

Question 37

Why is Beth, a physician, more likely to divorce than Dan, a high school graduate, blue-collar worker?

A) Women are more likely to instigate divorce than men are.
B) Adults with high levels of education and high socioeconomic status are more likely to divorce.
C) Women with careers do not see the value of marriage.
D) Men with only a high school degree are less likely to have a conflictual marriage.

Question 38

In which culture is familism very important?

A) Asian American
B) East European
C) White
D) Hispanic

Question 39

Which of the following is not a health benefit of marriage?

A) Married people tend to live longer than single people.
B) Married people are happier and healthier than single people.
C) Married people are more successful in business than single people.
D) Married people show lower rates of depression and anxiety than single people.

Question 40

Which statement regarding friendship in midlife is true?

A) Men favor discussions about sports, business, and politics.
B) Women have closer friendships than men do.
C) Men's friendships tend to center around talking and sharing feelings.
D) Women tend not to talk about themselves with their friends.

Question 41

The highest and most prestigious positions in management are most likely held by:

A) White men
B) Black men
C) Asian women
D) Hispanic women

Question 42

Levinson's views and Erikson's views do not have any similarities in what adults should focus on in midlife.

Question 43

Who is most likely going to financially plan for retirement?

A) Adults who have negative beliefs about their ability to control aspects of aging.
B) Adults who grew up in a single-parent household.
C) Adults with more positive beliefs about their ability to control aspects of aging.
D) Adults with no children.

Question 44

What percentage of CEOs of the top 1,000 companies in the United States are women?

A) Less than 1%
B) 5%
C) 10%
D) 15%

Question 45

Which of the following professions is least likely to result in workers feeling job burnout?

A) Emergency room physicians
B) Child welfare social workers
C) Bank managers
D) Teachers

Question 46

Why is the role of grandparent such an important one in today's society?

A) Because many grandparents are full-time caregivers for their grandchildren.
B) Because the elderly are valued in the United States.
C) Because with increasing lifespans, many will spend one third of their lives as grandparents.
D) Because adult children depend on their parents for financial support for their grandchildren.

Question 47

A person who has a midlife crisis must experience a dramatic shift in the direction his or her life has taken to truly experience a "crisis."

Question 48

Felix is a Native American boy being raised by his grandmother. Which statement below reflects Felix's experience?

A) Felix is in the minority of Native American children because most are raised by single mothers.
B) Felix will experience negative outcomes such as behavior problems and substance abuse.
C) Felix is in the majority of Native Americans because up to 50% of children in Indian tribes are raised by grandparents.
D) Felix is more likely to jump from his grandmother's home to his parents' home and back again.

Question 49

Most U.S. adults become grandparents in their:

A) Late 40s and early 50s
B) Late 50s and early 60s
C) Late 60s and early 70s
D) Late 70s and early 80s

Question 50

Men who scored higher on measures of psychological problems in earlier adulthood were more likely to report experiencing a midlife crisis 10 years later than did men who scored lower on psychological problems.

Question 51

Generativity only involves contributions to one's family, not to society as a whole.

Question 52

Why is retirement planning important?

A) Because Social Security cannot support all the people in the United States.
B) Because retirement represents a major life transition, and those who plan have greater life satisfaction.
C) Because people are retiring earlier than in years past.
D) Because individuals in retirement have more pressure than ever before.

Question 53

Who is most likely to experience job satisfaction?

A) Rick, a plumber who works for his brother.
B) Kenra, a senior partner in a law firm.
C) Mary, a secretary in a computer sales office.
D) David, an assembly line lead in a factory.

Question 54

Most developmental scientists adopt the perspective that midlife represents a transition similar to the transition to adulthood.

Question 55

In which ethnicity are grandparents most likely going to be responsible for raising their grandchildren in the United States?

A) Hispanic
B) European American non-Hispanic
C) African American
D) Asian American

Question 56

The overwhelming feeling that people have at the point of retirement tends to be:

A) permanent for most, and they maintain a sense of dissatisfaction throughout life.
B) temporary for some while they see all the possibilities they have.
C) nonexistent for most; there is no overwhelming feeling at all.
D) debilitating for most, resulting in a greater sense of life dissatisfaction after retirement.

Question 57

Morgan, a 9-year-old girl, is very close to her grandfather. Her mother and father divorced when she was 3 years old. Morgan and her grandfather spend a lot of time together cooking and talking. What benefits will Morgan experience because of her relationship with her grandfather?

A) Positive adjustment and fewer problem behaviors in adolescence.
B) Greater educational attainment.
C) More involvement in extracurricular activities in high school.
D) More positive peer relationships.

Question 58

Retirement planning includes all of the following except:

A) financial planning.
B) recognition of lifestyle changes.
C) changes in the amount of free time available.
D) changes in perceptions of family members.

Question 59

Which of the following statements regarding retirement is true?

A) More people today over the age of 65 are in the workforce than there were in 1900.
B) An average worker today can look forward to approximately 15 years of retirement.
C) Most U.S. adults today are financially prepared for retirement.
D) Most adults are not psychologically prepared for retirement.

Question 60

Retirement can be overwhelming for adults because:

A) they are worried about their finances.
B) they have too many possibilities for how they will spend their time.
C) they will miss their coworkers and the routine of going to work.
D) they do not have as close of a relationship with others outside of their work.

Question 61

The breakup of a first marriage tends to be more stressful for adults than the demise of a second or third marriage.

Question 62

Which of the Big 5 personality traits is the tendency to be responsible, disciplined, task oriented, and planful?

Question 63

Relationships between mothers and daughters are closer than other parent-child relationships and especially close as daughters enter middle age.

Question 64

In midlife, adults are more likely to choose friends who are different to them in age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Question 65

What is the term used to describe the emotional give-and-take that entails intimacy, companionship, and support as well as behaviors such as sharing, exchanging favors, and giving advice?

Question 66

In middle adulthood, most people spend more time with family than friends.

Question 67

Same-sex partnerships show the same health benefits that married people do.

Question 68

Career advancement is associated with increases in job satisfaction during middle adulthood.

Question 69

People choose behaviors, lifestyles, mates, and contexts based on their personalities, and then the outcomes of these choices and life experiences may strengthen and stabilize personality traits.

Question 70

Midlife adults who subjectively view themselves as younger than their chronological age tend to score higher on measures of well-being, mental health, and life satisfaction.

Question 71

Fathers are more likely than mothers to show negative emotional responses to their adult children's unmet career and relationship goals.

Question 72

Older middle-aged adults are typically more autonomous, less concerned with the evaluations and expectations of others, and more concerned with living up to self-chosen ideals and standards.

Question 73

How is generativity often expressed in early midlife?

Question 74

What is Erikson's term for the concern and sense of responsibility for future generations and society as a whole that adults have in midlife?

Question 75

Job satisfaction is positively linked to both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for men, but for women, job satisfaction tends to be positively linked only to extrinsic rewards.

Question 76

In middle adulthood, we compare the lives we have achieved with our hoped-for self, and the degree of match between the two influences our life satisfaction.

Question 77

Men tend to associate aging with mostly negative connotations.

Question 78

Subjective evaluations of age are important parts of the sense of self.

Question 79

Which of the Big 5 personality traits involves descriptors such as trusting, cooperative, helpful, caring behaviors and attitudes toward others.

Question 80

Parents and adult children tend to become closer as they mature.