Chapter 1: The Changing American Family

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of a family?

a. two or more people who live together and who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption

b. a group of people who share a common ancestry

c. two or more people who are in a relationship created by birth, marriage, or choice

d. two or more people connected by blood, adoption, marriage, or choice who rely on each other for social, emotional, and financial support

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. The term ______ refers to the image of a homemaker wife, a husband who works outside the home, and their two biological children.

a. White privilege

b. American middle class norm

c. SNAF or Standard North American Family

d. DCS or dominant cultural standard

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following is NOT a correct description of current trends in U.S. family life?

a. The number of cross-ethnic and cross-religious marriages is increasing.

b. More people are choosing to marry than ever before.

c. More women are choosing to work outside the home.

d. The number of gay and lesbian households is increasing.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Which statement about current U.S. family outcomes is INCORRECT?

a. More children of all ethnic groups go to high school and college than ever before.

b. The teen birth rate has decreased over the past decade.

c. Divorce rates have increased over the past decade.

d. Teens today are less likely to smoke than they were in the 1950s.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Which of the following is an example of a family process?

a. The mother is having an extramarital affair.

b. There is a 25-year-old son living at home.

c. An elderly grandmother recently moved in.

d. The mother is divorced and has remarried.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Family Structures Versus Family Processes

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. A ______ is a dual earner household in which the roles and responsibilities in the home are unequal.

a. contemporary family

b. modern family

c. dysfunctional family

d. complex family

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. The belief that people should not marry outside of their group or religion is referred to as______.

a. endogamy

b. exogamy

c. polygamy

d. polyandry

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which of the following is NOT an example of a healthy family process?

a. Family members respect each other’s individuality.

b. Family members refrain from raising their voices or yelling.

c. Family members avoid discussing problems or disagreements.

d. Family members refrain from physical acts like slapping or pushing.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Family Structures Versus Family Processes

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. A society in which women maintain power and control over men is defined as ______.

a. patriarchal

b. matriarchal

c. child centered

d. ethnocentric

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. A society in which property, privileges, and goods are passed down through the mother’s family is described as ______.

a. matrilineal

b. matrifocal

c. matriarchal

D. patriarchal

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Hard

11. Which group is sometimes referred to as the “model minority?”

a. Mexican Americans

b. Cuban Americans

c. Asian Americans

d. Native Americans

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Asian Americans in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Which social change occurred among European Americans during the second half of the 19th century?

a. Wages for men declined.

b. More women began to work outside the home.

c. Families had less leisure time.

d. The number of children per family declined.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: American Family Life After the Industrial Revolution

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which group has the highest suicide rate?

a. White middle-aged women

b. White middle-aged men

c. African American teenagers

d. White teenagers

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: American Family Life After the Industrial Revolution

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. A nuclear family is one that includes ______.

a. individuals of more than two generations

b. a cohabiting couple and their children

c. a married couple and their children

d. people who share a common ancestry

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Look at the History of African American Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Which term refers to a strong respect for one’s elders and a sense of communal devotion?

a. familism

b. compadrazgo

c. personalismo

d. coparenting

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Look at the History of Latino and Hispanic American Families’ Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. A union that is recognized as legitimate even though no formal ceremony or legal registration has occurred is a(n) ______.

a. polygamy

b. common discourse

c. endogamy

d. common-law marriage

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Mexican American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. Which statement about Latino families today is correct?

a. Puerto Ricans comprise the richest and best-educated group of Latinos.

b. Only about 5% of Latinos have college degrees.

c. Cuban Americans comprise the largest group of Latinos.

d. By the year 2020, one in four U.S. children will be Hispanic/Latino.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Latinos in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. A family in which both adult partners contribute to the family income is referred to as a ______.

a. SNAF

b. coprovider family

c. patriarchal family

d. family of origin

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A Look at the History of European American Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. To state that two variables are correlated means that they are ______.

a. caused by one another

b. both related to a third variable

c. related to each other

d. unrelated

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Evolution of American Families

Difficulty Level: Hard

20. The purpose of the Dawes Act of 1887 was to ______.

a. settle Native Americans in agricultural communities

b. move Native Americans west of the Mississippi

c. ensure sovereignty for Native American tribes

d. allow for dual citizenship for Native Americans

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Native Americans in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Hard

True/False

1. The ability to divorce, the right to adopt, and even sexual practices can be determined by cultural traditions.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Very few, if any, countries, cultures, and religious groups also have rules, customs, and policies about the people whom its citizens should definitely not marry.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Men around the world typically retain more power in family dynamics than women do.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The international community and the UN have decided that individual human rights are significantly less important in some cases than cultural traditions.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Relativism Versus Human Rights

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. The “modernization” of the family was completely the result of the general evolution of “the” family, as early family sociologists originally posited.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Infant Co-Sleeping

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. When most of us learned about the American history in school, we were taught the history of European Americans. Other groups’ experiences were either briefly described or not described at all.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Look at the History of European American Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. A coprovider family is what we call today a single-earner structure, where only one partner contributes to the family income and the other stays at home.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Look at the History of European American Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Despite our popular mythology, there were actually very few multigenerational households with warm and loving grandparents welcoming each grandchild’s birth.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Look at the History of European American Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. The church plays a minimal, if not absent, role in African American mental and spiritual resilience and there is often very little community support system available for black families.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: African American Families in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. The higher Asian American socioeconomic status can also partially be explained by the fact that they settled mainly on the East and West Coasts where wages are higher.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Asian Americans in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. These are interactional variables like caring, sharing, and communicating, which are not always easily visible.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Structures Versus Family Processes

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. This term is used to refer to a family’s composition, how many members it has, whether people are married, their ages, and other demographic variables.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Structures Versus Family Processes

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. This type of family involves a deconstruction or transformation of at least one aspect of traditional SNAF ideas about what a family is.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Diverse Family Structures and Processes

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. A term used to mean marrying outside their own group. For example, many religious groups do not allow their practitioners to marry outside of their religion.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. A term used to mean marrying within a specific circle of people. For example, many immigrants prefer their children to marry within their own group and do not approve of their children marrying a person from the new country.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Cultural groups also regulate the practice of one woman marrying more than one man. What is the word used to describe this practice?

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Some cultures practice this type of marriage, in which the wife and husband are chosen by family members, religious leaders, or cultural elders.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. This term is used to describe the family in which we grew up.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. This term is used to describe that which includes our mate and children.

Learning Objective: 1-1: Identify different ways to define family. | 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. A newly married couple moves in with the wife’s family is described by what term?

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Regulating Family Structures and Processes Around the World

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The percentage of households comprised of married husband-wife couples living with their own children has ______ between 2000 and 2010.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others. | 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Diverse Family Structures and Processes

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. The concept of spiritual parenting is often called by this term.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Look at the History of Latino and Hispanic American Families’ Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. To work seasonally or for certain periods of time to help with infrastructure or war efforts during World War II, Mexicans were invited back into the United States to work under what agreement?

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Look at the History of Latino and Hispanic American Families’ Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. While Mexican Americans have lived on the land that is now the United States since its beginning, Puerto Ricans began arriving for what kind of jobs in the 1940s?

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Puerto-Rican American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Today, these Americans are one of the poorest Hispanic groups and have high fertility and low marriage rates.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Puerto-Rican American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. These Americans today are the wealthiest and best educated of the Latino groups in the U.S. ______ American women have low fertility rates and marry later than women in other Hispanic groups.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cuban American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Similar to the influx and exile of Mexican American workers at the command of U.S. industry, ______ people came to the San Francisco Bay area of California during the 1840s to find jobs and escape war, poverty, and disease at home.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Chinese American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Historically, Chinese culture was patriarchal and allowed its men to engage in ______.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Chinese American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. The second generation of Japanese children, born in the United States between 1915 and 1945, are referred to as ______.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Japanese American Experiences

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Today, Asian Americans make up what percentage of the U.S. population?

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Asian Americans in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Asian Americans, such as some ______ families, still live in poverty and are traumatized, having escaped war and genocide in their home countries.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Asian Americans in Modern Times

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. The United Nations (UN) has decided that we should allow cultural and religious freedom to prosper as long as cultural or religious practices do not violate a family member’s ______.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes. | 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cultural Relativism Versus Human Rights

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Explain the meaning of the term cultural relativism. Explain how an emphasis on cultural relativism may conflict with a desire to promote individual human rights. Give an example of such a conflict.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cultural Relativism Versus Human Rights

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Explain the difference between family processes and family structures and give an example of each. Why have social scientists traditionally focused more on structure than on process?

Learning Objective: 1-3: Differentiate between family structures and family processes.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Family Structures Versus Family Processes

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. What is SNAF? How does this image affect our ideology about families and our judgments about families?

Learning Objective: 1-2: Describe the impact of Standard North American Family ideologies on our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Standard North American Family

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Families differ greatly among the various ethnic and racial groups that make up the contemporary United States. Pick two different ethnic groups discussed in this chapter, such as Native Americans, Mexican Americans, or Asian Americans. Compare and contrast the two groups’ histories and current family outcomes.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Summarize the major historical and contemporary trends affecting families of the major ethnic groups in the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Evolution of American Families

Difficulty Level: Hard