Sociology of Marriage-2141, Fall 2011
Quiz 1 Study Guide: Altenhofel
Section I: Answer all of the following choosing the best answer. 24 of the following will be on
your quiz.
1. Approximately what percentage of the United States population marries at least once?
a. 50%
b. 65%
c. 75%
d. 85%
2. Any definition of family should be broad enough to encompass a range of family structures,
dynamics, and:
a. values.
b. resources.
c. functions.
d. goals.
3. Which of the following would be part of your family, as defined by the United States Bureau
of the Census?
a. your grandmother, who lives in a nursing home
b. your sister, who lives with her husband two hundred miles away
c. your brother, who rents a room in your basement
d. all these
4. Contemporary families may include:
a. families with disabled parents and children.
b. same-sex parents.
c. foster care families.
d. all of these
5. Anthropologist Margaret Mead first labeled which of the following trends?
a. serial monogamy
b. cohabitation
c. casual matrimony
d. nomothetic research
6. Married people are happier than:
a. single people.
b. widowed people.
c. cohabiting people.
d. all of the above.
7. Individuals who spend even a few hours a week on-line experience higher levels of
____________ than they would if they had been on the Internet less often.
TB-1 | 1
a. love and affection
b. stimulation and interest
c. depression and loneliness
d. feelings of health and vitality
8. In our continuous quest to market technological solutions to human problems, much has
been made of the computer’s potential for connecting human beings. Recent research
indicates that feelings of personal well-being ____________ as the number of hours spent on
the Internet increased.
a. stayed the same
b. increased
c. decreased
d. increased dramatically
9. ____________ are the most common stressors couples and families face.
a. Religious issues
b. Parenting issues
c. Sexual issues
d. Financial issues
10. Financial issues are the most common couple and family stressors
a. among those in poverty.
b. among those in the middle class.
c. among those who are financially set.
d. regardless of how much money is made.
11. What proportion of children in this country is now living in poverty?
a. 1 in 50
b. 1 in 30
c. 1 in 6
d. 1 in 3
12. Of all the poor people in this country, what percentage are children?
a. 15%
b. 22%
c. 40%
d. 78%
13. It can be argued that the impact of the ups and downs of the global economy is felt the
most severely by:
a. governments.
b. politicians.
c. farmers and ranchers.
d. couples and families.
TB-1 | 2
14. Waite and Gallagher report there is growing evidence that people are _______________ if
they are in a marriage.
a. healthier
b. happier
c. wealthier
d. all of these
15. Marriage by its nature is a _______________ institution.
a. multifaceted
b. legal
c. dynamic
d. traditional
16. The social system most negatively affects:
a. families of color.
b. families at the poverty level.
c. families experiencing crisis.
d. families with high cohesion.
17. An important conclusion of the cross-cultural research on family strengths is that:
a. various ethnic groups seem to be more different than alike.
b. European families show greater strength than American families.
c. various ethnic groups seem to be more alike than different.
d. no conclusion can be drawn because minimal cross-cultural research has been completed.
18. The most financially successful ethnic group in the United States is:
a. African American.
b. Latino.
c. Asian American.
d. American Indian
19. The nuclear family is an example of:
a. a conjugal family system.
b. a matrilocal family system.
c. a consanguineal family system.
d. a patrilineal family system.
20. Recent immigrants who have had a more difficult time adjusting to American culture
include those from:
a. Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
b. China, Japan, and Korea.
c. Taiwan, Philippines, and Malaysia.
d. all of these
21. The term ____________ refers to the geographic origin of a minority group within a country
of culture.
TB-1 | 3
a. ethnic identity
b. ethnic group
c. cultural group
d. cultural identity
22. Ashley Montagu (1964) argued that the term “race:”
a. cannot be scientifically justified.
b. evolved out of a background of prejudice.
c. obscures ethnic similarities.
d. all of these
23. Rural, agrarian societies tend to:
a. have lower divorce rates than urbanized societies.
b. emphasize the priority of the family over the individual.
c. demonstrate a patriarchal power structure.
d. all these
24. The smallest of these minority groups in the United States is
a. Latino.
b. African American.
c. Asian American.
d. American Indian.
25. To assume that one’s culture is the standard by which one judges all others is:
a. racism.
b. ethnocentrism.
c. assimilation.
d. emic.
26. The mythology of race refers to a belief that:
a. racial groups have descended from a variety of ancestors.
b. racial relationships resemble kinship ties.
c. ethnic identity is a social construction and not a biological fact.
d. a racial classification based on biological characteristics.
27. From a family systems theory perspective, when a child of a single parent constantly gets
in trouble at school:
a. the child is the problem.
b. the teacher is the problem.
c. everybody in the family (including the noncustodial parent) is the problem.
d. Family systems theory does not apply, since school problems are outside the family’s
boundaries.
28. Theories developed in this vein propose that individuals are profoundly immersed in the
social world, and that our understanding of this world and beliefs about this world are social
products:
TB-1 | 4
a. symbolic interactionist framework.
b. family systems framework.
c. family strengths framework.
d. social construction framework.
29. Qualities that are consistently identified as characteristics of strong families cluster into
three categories:
a. passion, commitment, friendship.
b. commitment, concern, connectedness.
c. cohesion, flexibility, communication.
d. compromise, respect, communication.
30. Research on family time together indicates that pleasurable family time
a. is usually related to the amount of money spent.
b. often centers on simple, inexpensive activities.
c. often involves outdoor recreation.
d. often centers on simple, inexpensive activities and involves outdoor recreation.
31. The most controversial finding of family strengths researchers is the importance of
a. economic security.
b. the ability to cope with stress.
c. religion or a sense of spiritual well-being.
d. humor.
32. Which of the following is an example of spiritual well-being from the family strengths
framework?
a. faith in God
b. a feeling of oneness with the world
c. having strong ethical beliefs
d. all these
33. The family strengths framework focuses on:
a. how and why families succeed.
b. ethnic families’ difficulties with assimilation.
c. moral strength in religious families.
d. none of these
34. Family tasks are
a. roles taken by family members.
b. necessary household chores.
c. emotional struggles families deal with.
d. challenges families face over time.
35. Understanding a family’s reaction to the death of one of its members might best be done
from a/an __________ perspective.
a. exchange
TB-1 | 5
b. symbolic interaction
c. feminist
d. family development
36. Central to feminist thinking is the notion that
a. men are less important than women.
b. differences between men and women are clear.
c. women are exploited, devalued, and oppressed.
d. women are the same as men.
37. Communication is considered a facilitating dimension on the Couple and Family Map
because
a. it helps a family resolve conflict and work out problems.
b. it fosters closeness and togetherness.
c. it enables families to adapt to changes that are required.
d. all the above
38. Persons in enmeshed relationships tend to
a. be vulnerable to jealousy.
b. find their own personal growth stifled.
c. expect the impossible from their partners.
d. all of these
39. A chaotic family might be most likely to live by which of the following axioms?
a. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
b. “There is nothing new under the sun.”
c. “The only thing you can count on is that you can’t count on anything.”
d. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
40. The waning of romantic excitement in the early months of marriage
a. generally results in a couple becoming more chaotic.
b. is less likely to happen in an enmeshed relationship than in a disengaged one.
c. may actually bring a couple into a more healthy balance of separateness and togetherness.
d. usually happens because a couple has had to learn to renegotiate roles and rules.
Section II
Define, explain the importance of the term for studying marriage and provide examples of the
following in essay format. Each is worth 8 points. (6 of the following will be on your quiz.)
Family
Open System
Social Environment
Symbolic Interaction Framework
Gender Roles
Conjugal Family System
Cultural Group
Lineage
Ethnocentrism
Looking-Glass Self
TB-1 | 6