Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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. B

Question 2

Why is retirement planning important?

Accepted Answer

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. B

Question 3

How is androgyny related to adjustment and self-esteem in adulthood?

Accepted Answer

Androgyny, integrating masculine and feminine characteristics, provides adults with a greater repertoire of skills for meeting the demands of midlife. Middle-aged women who may be newly independent after experiencing divorce, death of a partner, or the end of child-rearing may enter the workplace, seek advancement in current careers, or enroll in college. Successfully meeting these new challenges requires self-reliance, assertiveness, and confidence. Men, on the other hand, may become more sensitive and self-reflective as they complete generative tasks of mentoring and caring for the next generation. A great deal of research has shown that androgyny predicts positive adjustment and is associated with high self-esteem, advanced moral reasoning, psychosocial maturity, and life satisfaction. Men and women with an androgynous gender role have a greater repertoire of skills, both instrumental and expressive, which permits them to adapt to a variety of situations with greater ease than do those who adopt either a masculine or feminine gender role.

Question 4

Who is more likely to complete college?

Accepted Answer

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 5

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 6

Who is most likely going to financially plan for retirement?

Accepted Answer

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 7

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

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

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?

Accepted Answer

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 9

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?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is Erikson's term for the concern...

Question 10

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

Accepted Answer

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 11

Most U.S. adults become grandparents in their:

Accepted Answer

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 12

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.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

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.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

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

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 17

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?

Accepted Answer

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 18

What are some ways that individuals spend their time when in retirement?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are some ways that individuals spend...

Question 19

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.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

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

Exam 16: Socioemotional Development in Middle Adulthood

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

Why is retirement planning important?

How is androgyny related to adjustment and self-esteem in adulthood?

Who is more likely to complete college?

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

Who is most likely going to financially plan for retirement?

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

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?

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?

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

Most U.S. adults become grandparents in their:

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.

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

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.

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

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

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?

What are some ways that individuals spend their time when in retirement?

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.

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