Deck 12: The Aging Family

Question 1

Recent demographic indicators suggest that more young adults reside with their parents than they did a few years ago.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

All fifty states now statutorily provide an avenue by which grandparents can petition the courts for visitation with their grandchildren over a parent's objection.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Marital satisfaction may be higher for the elderly than for those in the intermediate stages of the family life course.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

For women, the launching of the last child increased both labor market involvement and economic well-being while both divorce and widowhood decreased well-being.

Question 5

The period after the children leave home lasts longer than any other over the marital life course.

Question 6

Postparental suggests that the children are now legally and socially adults.

Question 7

According to the text, the belief that adult children abandon their elderly relatives or fail to meet their needs is accurate.

Question 8

Surveys suggest that baby boomers may be the first generation to do worse than their parents in regard to wealth and upward mobility.

Question 9

Life expectancy is the maximum biological age limit that anyone can expect to live.

Question 10

A study of 700 women found that those in their early fifties rated their quality of life higher than did younger or older women.

Question 11

Elderly Chinese and Japanese Americans are more likely to live with their children than are other Americans.

Question 12

Since 1900, although a higher percentage of people are living longer, there has been a relatively small increase (about six years) in the life expectancy of those who reach age 65.

Question 13

Sons are motivated to provide support to older parents more out of an expectation of financial reward than out of sentiment.

Question 14

Parental characteristics such as health, marital status, and employment status are the most important predictors of parent-child coresidence in the middle years.

Question 15

Most grandparents have, on average, ten to twelve grandchildren.

Question 16

Black-white racial differences in grandparenting were said to be based on economic or structural factors and not on cultural distinctiveness.

Question 17

Research by Farrell and Rosenberg in the early 1980s documented the existence of a universal mid-life crisis among men.

Question 18

Among the elderly, dating was found to provide a means of self-disclosure for women while for men it provided increased prestige and status rewards.

Question 19

Coresiding young adults report significantly lower affective relationships with their parents than nonresidential children.

Question 20

In contrast to the lower-class grandparent, the middle-class grandparent appears to be far more integrated into ongoing daily life.

Question 21

When approaching retirement, marriage has powerful health benefits.

Question 22

The percentage of elderly below the poverty level in 2007 was about one-third of what it was in 1970.

Question 23

Today, both men and women tend to

A) marry in their teens.
B) have their last child in their early thirties.
C) see their last child launched in their mid-to-late fifties.
D) not lose their spouse until the early or mid-sixties.

Question 24

In the middle years, as of 2007, the percentage of men and women married was about

A) one-half of the men and one-half of the women.
B) two-thirds of the men and one-half of the women.
C) three-fourth of the men and two-thirds of the women.
D) 90 percent of the men and 80 percent of the women.

Question 25

A wife's retirement was shown to reduce the husband's time spent in housework and to increase hers.

Question 26

Evidence suggests that families today are less willing than those of the past to care for their elderly family members.

Question 27

According to the text, the middle years cover the ages

A) 35 to 44.
B) 35 to 54.
C) 45 to 54.
D) 45 to 64.

Question 28

Farrell and Rosenberg's study of men entering middle age revealed that a major factor determining the amount of alienation and distress they experienced was

A) socioeconomic class.
B) marital status.
C) race.
D) physical appearance.

Question 29

The most important predictors of parent and child coresidence in the middle years are

A) home ownership and financial stability.
B) parent characteristics such as health or employment status.
C) the child's needs and situation.
D) all of the above about equally.

Question 30

Retirement has been shown to be less stressful for women than for men.

Question 31

Mortality is lower for married persons than unmarried ones and lower for those with children than those without children.

Question 32

A study of 44,000 deaths in Sweden revealed that persons, whether separated, divorced, cohabiting, or remarried, had higher mortality risks than those who stayed married with the same spouse.

Question 33

In spite of housing provided by the government, the vast majority (about 75 percent) of those aged 60 and over in China live with their children.

Question 34

Coresident adult children were found to

A) give and receive more support from their parents than nonresident children.
B) have a more positive experience when they were younger and not employed.
C) increase the marital satisfaction of the parents.
D) be highly related to the health and employment status characteristics of the parents.

Question 35

In 2007, the ratio of unmarried males age 65 and over to unmarried females age 65 and over was about 44.3.

Question 36

Widowhood was found to be more distressing and disruptive of identity than was divorce.

Question 37

Hospice refers to a hospital setting for the terminally ill where privacy is stressed and full medical support facilities are available.

Question 38

The majority (about 53 percent) of people over age 85 are living in nursing homes or long-term care institutions.

Question 39

Euthanasia refers to the deliberate ending of a person's life to spare that person from suffering.

Question 40

Despite high medical needs and lower income, America's elderly enjoy lower levels of economic hardship than any other adult age group.

Question 41

In terms of the empty nest syndrome, Dolores Borland hypothesizes that

A) the syndrome affects all women who have children.
B) it may occur to a greater degree in a particular cohort of white, middle-class women.
C) the syndrome is most likely to affect black women.
D) the empty nest no longer exists because children tend to remain in the parental home.

Question 42

A health care plan which emphasizes a therapeutic environment designed from the patients' point of view and stresses space for interaction with other people are called

A) hospice.
B) nursing care.
C) hospital based.
D) health maintenance organizations.

Question 43

Residents of nursing homes are predominately

A) white.
B) widowed.
C) over age 75.
D) all of the above.

Question 44

The biological age limit beyond which no one can expect to live is the

A) life span.
B) live expectancy.
C) life course or life cycle.
D) age/sex dependency ratio.

Question 45

Social gerontology is the study of

A) female illness in old age.
B) medical and health need throughout the life course.
C) communications patterns among widows.
D) older persons and the aging process.

Question 46

Modern grandparenthood in the United States has been significantly shaped by

A) a younger age at marriage and an increase in family size.
B) an increased spacing of children and a later age at retirement.
C) an increased life expectancy and changed fertility patterns (women having their last child at a younger age).
D) All of the above three have significantly shaped grandparenthood.

Question 47

After age 65, the greatest percentage of men and women are living

A) with friends.
B) in institutions or home for the elderly.
C) in households or families of their own.
D) with children or other relatives.

Question 48

In the United States, the poverty rate for the elderly, compared to that of children under age eighteen, is

A) three times that of children.
B) twice that of children.
C) the same as children.
D) lower than children.

Question 49

The term "roleless role" has been used in the text to describe

A) grandparenthood.
B) stepgrandparenthood.
C) neither A nor B.
D) both A and B.

Question 50

Which of the following statements about retirement is true?

A) It is about as stressful for women as for men.
B) Retired elderly turn to formal agencies rather than family for support.
C) Retired married people die quicker than retired single people.
D) None of the above three are true about retirement.

Question 51

The number of older people living in long-term care institutions is about __________ percent of those over age 65 and __________ percent of those over age 85.

A) four / ten
B) four / twenty
C) ten / twenty
D) twenty / thirty

Question 52

Which statement about grandparents is true?

A) Grandmothers are likely to have higher levels of interactions with grandchildren than are grandfathers.
B) There is a greater centrality of the grandfather role among black than white men.
C) Lower-class grandparents are more integrated into family life than middle-class ones.
D) All of the above three statements are true.

Question 53

Support for older parents by daughters seems to be motivated primarily by

A) principles of obligation.
B) intergenerational affection and altruism.
C) expectations of inheritance.
D) receiving child-care and financial assistance.

Question 54

Elderly bedridden people first turn for help to

A) bureaucratic organizations.
B) friends.
C) neighbors.
D) families.

Question 55

Which statement about retirement is false?

A) Retired elderly people are neglected and abandoned by their families.
B) Retirement does not affect marital quality.
C) Retirement is not materially different for women than for men.
D) Retirement requires major role readjustments for both men and women.

Question 56

In the United States, life expectancy at birth is longest for

A) white males and shortest for white females.
B) white females and shortest for black males.
C) black males and shortest for black females.
D) black females and shortest for white males.

Question 57

As of 2007, the percent of men and women over age 75 who were married was closest to

A) 75 percent of the men and 65 percent of the women.
B) 67 percent of the men and 49 percent of the women.
C) 59 percent of the men and 59 percent of the women.
D) 49 percent of the men and 29 percent of the women.

Question 58

The text suggests that the middle class grandparent role in the United States in one which can be described as

A) a "roleless role" with few normative restrictions.
B) the ultimate parenting situation.
C) dysfunctional in kinship interaction patterns.
D) filled with sorrow and grief due to frequent divorce situations and high mobility patterns.

Question 59

Which statement has been found to be true concerning employment patterns and economic well-being?

A) Launching the last child improved both.
B) Marital dissolution decreased both.
C) No changes were detected in employment or well-being by either launching the last child or marital dissolution.
D) Both A and B above are true.

Question 60

Research suggests that people over age 65

A) are alienated from their children.
B) experience high levels of conflict when two or more generations live together.
C) get more support from daughters than from sons.
D) experience all of the above three.

Question 61

What are the main problems confronting the oldest Americans (those over 85)?

Question 62

__________ refers to the deliberate ending of a person's life to spare her or him from the suffering of an agonizing disease or illness.

Question 63

By race and sex, life expectancy in the United States is highest for __________.

Question 64

What is the difference between life span and life expectancy? How does life expectancy differ by race and sex? What factors account for these differences?

Question 65

Describe marriages and families in the later years in terms of (a) marital status, (b) living arrangements, (c) poverty, and (d) relationships with children.

Question 66

To the extent that a "mid-life crisis" occurs at all, it appears to be more prevalent among __________ class men.

Question 67

__________ is a program that emphasized a therapeutic environment for dying patients that involves extensive interaction with family and friends.

Question 68

The biological age limit beyond which no one can expect to live is the __________.

Question 69

Contrast the marital status differences of men and women over age 65. List three major consequences of these differences.

Question 70

What/who is the "sandwich generation"? Describe the support patterns of this generation and the motivational differences for this support by sons and daughters.

Question 71

A study of 44,000 deaths in Sweden found the highest mortality risk to exist among

A) widowed women.
B) divorced women.
C) separated men.
D) cohabiting women.

Question 72

Contrast the different circumstances facing grandparents, stepgrandparents, and great grandparents. What is meant by each being a "roleless role"? Illustrate.

Question 73

Mitchell and Gee refer to children who leave home and return as __________ kids.

Question 74

Parents in the middle years squeezed between the need of their children and those of their aging parents have been referred to as the __________.

Question 75

What changes in family composition and in the timing of family transitions may account for the change in length of the post-parental period?

Question 76

Grandparenthood, step-grandparenthood, and great grandparenthood have all been described as __________ roles.

Question 77

The study of older persons and the aging process is known as social __________.

Question 78

What does research suggest about a mid-life crisis? Explain differences by sex and by social class.

Question 79

The chances for remarriage are higher for

A) the widowed than the divorced.
B) women than for men.
C) older people than for younger people.
D) widowers than widows.

Question 80

In 2007, the sex ratio of unmarried males age 65 and over to unmarried females of the same age was about

A) 72.7.
B) 52.7.
C) 44.3.
D) 12.7.