Deck 7: The Middle Years of the Family and the Not So Empty Nest

Question 1

Josh has bought new,more fashionable clothes;started working out at the gym;bought a new sports car;separated from his wife;and found a glamorous young girlfriend.According to the text,these are signs of which of the following?

A)a generativity shift
B)marital boredom
C)a midlife crisis
D)midlife schizophrenia

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Sonja and Eli are in the second half of middle age.According to the text,what are they most likely focused on?

A)liberation and experimentation
B)death and dying
C)self-evaluation and transition
D)caretaking and parenting

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is the advantage that many middle-aged Canadians have in dealing with life-stage challenges?

A)They are well supported by a long-term peer group.
B)They have adult children who are largely self-sufficient.
C)They have high levels of practical knowledge.
D)They have learned to let go of the things they cannot change.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which term describes the focus on one's legacy,such as having children and passing on something of value to younger generations?

A)midlife crisis
B)life goals
C)self-reflection
D)generativity

Question 5

According to the text,which of the following best describes the current midlife generation?

A)It consists of the baby boomers.
B)It is smaller than in previous decades.
C)It spends more time in child rearing than in previous decades.
D)It is very homogenous.

Question 6

What are the two age periods of midlife?

A)30 to 50 and 50 to 65
B)mid 30s to mid 40s and mid 40s to mid 60s
C)early 40s to late 50s and late 50s to early 70s
D)45 to 55 and 55 to 65

Question 7

According to the text,what is meant by "the midlife years are transitional"?

A)Men experience a midlife crisis.
B)There is an increase in marital pleasure.
C)There is a shift in family relationships.
D)Women are seen as deteriorating physically.

Question 8

What did Erik Erikson believe is the key issue in middle age?

A)the development of intimacy and relationship maintenance
B)introspection regarding future goals
C)passing something of value on to younger generations
D)dealing with the competing demands of work and family

Question 9

As men's and women's social roles become more similar,what is likely to happen?

A)women will start to worry about generativity
B)generativity will become less important for both men and women
C)men will experience routes to generativity more closely resembling women's
D)women will experience routes to generativity more closely resembling men's

Question 10

What is the term for a life event that can produce a change in the family system?

A)transformation
B)midlife crisis
C)transition
D)stressor

Question 11

What does the term "midlife crisis" refer to?

A)a life event that can produce change in the extended family system
B)the depression some women experience when the last child leaves home
C)a period of extreme strain as a person evaluates his or her life in middle age
D)the stress experienced by middle-aged adults who face the disability of their parents

Question 12

Which of the following is a characteristic of the midlife group?

A)their diversity
B)their unusual similarity
C)their rapid physical decline
D)their child rearing

Question 13

According to the text,what is the most important resource for meeting the challenges of midlife transitions?

A)friends
B)family
C)co-workers
D)therapists

Question 14

Hugo and Anna are midlife parents.Their adult daughter Adele is married with her own child.According to the text,what is likely to be an important task for this family?

A)redrawing family boundaries and redefining individual roles
B)preventing a midlife crisis by developing new hobbies and interests
C)directing extra financial resources towards retirement
D)renegotiating the marital system as a dyad

Question 15

What is the term for the many changes that occur during the middle years of the family life cycle?

A)crisis prone
B)morphogenetic
C)provisional
D)transitional

Question 16

According to Erik Erikson,what is the chief developmental task of midlife?

A)intimacy
B)life review
C)generativity
D)creativity

Question 17

What general statement can we make about the middle years of life?

A)Almost all men are concentrating on career achievement.
B)The main interest of most middle-age women is children and grandchildren.
C)There are enormous differences among middle-aged people.
D)Middle-aged individuals are more alike than different.

Question 18

Between 1991 and 2021,what will happen to the number of Canadians aged 45 to 64?

A)It will stay the same.
B)It will double.
C)It will triple.
D)It will decrease slightly.

Question 19

When did the idea of middle age originate?

A)in the Victorian period
B)fairly recently
C)in medieval times
D)during the 1800s

Question 20

Which of the following has been seen as the most important form of generativity?

A)having children
B)producing works of art
C)career and public life
D)financial success

Question 21

Which years does emerging adulthood roughly span?

A)17 to 21
B)18 to 35
C)16 to 20
D)18 to 25

Question 22

When parents and adult children live together,the situation is ambiguous.Many parents feel the need to maintain control over their own homes,while many adult children may have which of the following feelings?

A)They want their parents to make decisions for them.
B)They wish to control their own lives.
C)They expect to make most household decisions.
D)They want to control their parents' lives.

Question 23

By the end of adolescence,teens are more concerned with which of the following than with conforming to peers?

A)romantic relationships
B)making choices about higher education
C)deciding career goals
D)maintaining relationships with parents

Question 24

Which of the following is the most basic need of adolescents?

A)firm boundaries
B)acceptance within the peer group
C)a belief that their parents support them
D)freedom to explore drugs and alcohol

Question 25

Why can having adult children living at home or returning home be stressful for parents?

A)Old parent-child roles may be inappropriate.
B)Children take over too many of the parents' responsibilities.
C)It tends to keep parents together in unhappy marriages.
D)Most parents are unhappy with the revolving door.

Question 26

Around what age do many Canadians become grandparents?

A)40
B)50
C)60
D)70

Question 27

Which of the following is a benefit to an adult child living at home with his or her parents?

A)shared housework and living costs
B)the opportunity for the adult child to complete an education
C)the opportunity to resolve earlier relationship conflicts
D)the chance to give financial assistance to the parents

Question 28

Middle-aged parents with teens at home are more likely to be which of the following?

A)anxious
B)depressed
C)frustrated
D)stressed

Question 29

Which term refers to children who return to their parents' home after moving out?

A)failed birds
B)in-and-outers
C)sandwich generation
D)boomerang kids

Question 30

In the past,which of the following marked a transition into adulthood?

A)getting married
B)graduating from high school
C)having a baby
D)getting a "real" job

Question 31

What does the "revolving door" refer to?

A)the rat race many middle-aged people are trapped in
B)the fact that elderly parents move in with their children
C)the return home of a child who earlier moved out
D)the need to provide daycare for grandchildren

Question 32

Which parenting style is most likely to result in children with identity diffusion?

A)permissive
B)neglectful
C)authoritarian
D)authoritative

Question 33

Which term refers to the depression and sense of uselessness some women experience when the last child leaves home?

A)detachment disorder
B)mid-life crisis
C)generativity crisis
D)empty nest syndrome

Question 34

How do men and women tend to shift roles in midlife?

A)toward greater androgyny
B)toward greater femininity
C)toward greater masculinity
D)toward greater synchrony

Question 35

Researchers are now suggesting that there is a stage after adolescence.What is it called?

A)young adulthood
B)late adolescence
C)emerging adulthood
D)pseudo-adolescence

Question 36

According to the text,what do emerging adults value more than relationships with peers?

A)relationships with romantic partners
B)plans for higher education
C)career goals
D)relationships with parents

Question 37

Compared to young people of the same age in the past,what do emerging adults today have more of?

A)freedom and choices
B)responsibilities and stressors
C)money and status
D)friends and romantic partners

Question 38

James Marcia suggests that identity develops on which of the following two dimensions?

A)expansion and moratorium
B)trust and mistrust
C)exploration and commitment
D)foreclosure and role confusion

Question 39

Which of the following is unlikely to be a reason for greater interest in sex at midlife?

A)After menopause,there is no need to fear pregnancy.
B)Now that children are gone,there are fewer interruptions.
C)Sex has become a habit that is hard to give up.
D)Men's slowed response time allows a more relaxed approach.

Question 40

Which of the following describes younger people's transition to independent living in the past few decades?

A)it is occurring earlier
B)it occurs more rapidly
C)it is occurring later
D)it has stopped occurring

Question 41

The ____________________ refers to the depression and sense of uselessness some women experience when the last child leaves home.

Question 42

In what ways do men and women evaluate their work at midlife?

Question 43

Erik Erikson states that the key issue in middle age is _______________________.

Question 44

Midlife adults tend to reflect and evaluate their lives in three domains.Briefly describe these.

Question 45

A(n)____________________ is a life event that can produce change in the family system.

Question 46

When young people repeatedly move in and out of their parents' home,the situation is described as a ___________________.

Question 47

Children who return to their parents' home after moving out are called __________________.

Question 48

Indicate the developmental tasks that face young adults.

Question 49

According to James Marcia,when an adolescent explores his or her identity and makes no commitment,he or she is in __________________.

Question 50

Explain what is meant by "midlife crisis."

Question 51

According to the text,what is the major theme of the middle years?

A)the challenge of making these years fulfilling for both spouses
B)the transition to grandparent and in-law status
C)the transition in roles and relationships
D)the failure of young adults to achieve independence

Question 52

Joy is 33.Her 16-year-old daughter has just had a baby.How is Joy likely to find grandmotherhood?

A)stressful because she does not enjoy the baby at all
B)stressful because it is off time and she is too young
C)a pleasure because she has looked forward to being a grandmother
D)a pleasure because she and her daughter had planned the child

Question 53

What does the term "sandwich generation" refer to?

A)dual-earner couples who are so busy with their careers they do not have time to cook
B)young adults who are employed in low-paying jobs with few prospects for promotion
C)middle-aged adults whose children are dependent and whose parents have increasing disability
D)young lone parents who live with their own parents and also care for their children

Question 54

According to the text,why do most midlife children return home?

A)loneliness
B)employment loss
C)death of a spouse
D)to assist aging parents

Question 55

The ____________________ is the socially approved schedule for certain life events.

Question 56

Researchers are now suggesting that there is a stage after adolescence they call __________________________.

Question 57

The current midlife generation consists of the ________________.

Question 58

Middle-aged adults who experience the stress of continuing dependency of their children and increasing disability of their parents are called the ____________________.

Question 59

When Janice became a grandmother at the age of 29,why did she feel it was too early?

A)She was using the social time clock.
B)She was ready for an empty nest.
C)She was not prepared for the revolving door.
D)She did not hear the ticking of the biological clock.

Question 60

Which term refers to the socially approved schedule for events to occur at certain times of life?

A)social time clock
B)social straitjacket
C)ticking biological clock
D)social script

Question 61

Explain why age is often more important for women than for men.

Question 62

Explain why more young adults are living with their parents now than formerly and describe the stresses this trend creates in parent-child relationships.

Question 63

Explain how James Marcia's description of four identity types is related to the four different parenting styles.

Question 64

Explain why researchers feel the need for a new age category: emerging adulthood.What characteristics define this new age group?

Question 65

Describe four major changes that occur in adolescence and young adulthood and discuss their impact on relationships between middle-aged parents and their children.

Question 66

Describe the current midlife generation.

Question 67

What changes may occur in the marital relationship at midlife?

Question 68

Name three problems that may result from the revolving door.

Question 69

Define "empty nest" and explain why it is often more important for women than for men.

Question 70

Discuss the concept of generativity.What are the different ways that generativity may be expressed? How is generativity different for men and women?

Question 71

Describe the factors influencing marital happiness at midlife.

Question 72

Describe the developmental stage called emerging adulthood.

Question 73

Discuss changes that may occur in the marital relationship at midlife.

Question 74

Compare men's and women's transitions at midlife.

Question 75

Explain why middle-aged individuals are sometimes called "the sandwich generation."