Adult Development And Aging Chapter 4 Study Questions

Front 1

How do we acquire our various roles during the life span?

Back 1

Roles are culturally determined guidelines and expectancies. As adults, we are expected to adcquire and perform behaviors associated with many roles simultaneously. Often, age serves as a normative criterion with regard to both role entry and exit.

Front 2

How is the process of socialization different for adults and children?

Back 2

Socialization is a dynamic, lifelong, and bidirectional process.

Front 3

List and describe three role types.

Back 3

(1) Institutional roles assume a given status, with accompanying well-defined roles, such as occupation, gender, or age
(2) Tenuous roles apply to people in definite social positions who do not have well-defines funcions or roles, suuch as aged people or the unemployed
(3) Informal roles have no institutional status but have definite roles attached to them, for example, the family scapegoat

Front 4

Compare and contrast role transition and role change.

Back 4

Role transition is simply the process of evolving from one form of a specific role to another form of that role, while role change involves a complete shift from one type of role to a different one.

Front 5

What is an interpersonal convoy? Who composes an interpersonal convoy? What function does the interpersonal convoy play during adulthood?

Back 5

An interpersonal convoy is the interpersonal support system we all utilize to help us cope with change. An interpersonal convoy includes supportive rleationships with others that are both intimate and stable, as well as those that are more role-bound, instrumental, and changing.

Front 6

Compare and contrast vertical and horizontal attachments.

Back 6

Vertical attachments are the first to form and involve people who have greater knowledge and social power than the child and provide protection, security, and satisfaction of basic needs. Horizontal attachments begin to emerge about the third year of life and are relationships with other individuals who have the same amount of social power as themselves.

Front 7

List and describe four factors which tend to facilitate attraction and interpersonal relationships.

Back 7

Familiarity and propinquity, satisfaction of personal needs, similarity, predictability, and reinforcement. Familiarity and propinquity refer to close, regular contact, association, or physical proximity.

Front 8

What are the major theories of interpersonal attraction?

Back 8

Parental models (we are attracted to individuals who possess the traits of our opposite-sex parent), Filter theory (in selecting a spouse, people use a hierarchical set of "filters."), Stage theory (couples go through a series of stages durign whcih they come to know one another well enough to make a decision regarding the other's marriageability), Attachment theory (during adolescence, the young person begins to search for a partnership with an age peer, usually of the opposite sex, and attachment systems are involved), and PXO theory (contends that the nature and quality of interactions between two people have are influenced by four causal conditions P variables (attributes specific to the person evaluating the other), X variables (factors that characterize the physical and social environment in which the relationship begins and is embedded), O variables (attributes specific to the other who serves as the target of the evaluation)

Front 9

What are some of the reasons why people marry?

Back 9

For some, it is a response to the social clock. Others marry for security or to compensate for perceived social and/or personal inadequacies. many do marry for love. The choice to marry often grows out of what Eirkson terms a person's intimacy needs.

Front 10

Describe the developmental changes in love.

Back 10

"Eros" love (characterized by passionate romantic love, strong physical attraction, intensity, and intimacy) is the preferred style of young adults. "Storage" love (friendship based love, characterized by shared attitudes, values, and strong companionship) and "pragma" love (practical love) become increasingly important with age.

Front 11

Describe the factors related to marital satisfaction. Do they change with age?

Back 11

Approach to conflic resolution, companionship, communication, pleasurable interaction, emotional expressiveness, and a high degree of disclosure.

Front 12

What are some of the stages of the family life cycle?

Back 12

Marriage, parenthood, retirement, and periods of transition between stages within and between stages within and between families.

Front 13

What are some of the types of spousal abuse? What are some of the causes of spousal abuse?

Back 13

Psychological, property, physical, and sexual. There are three theories of perspectives on the cause of spousal violence (1) patriarchal privilege (2) social learning theory (3) attachment dysfunction

Front 14

What are some of the negative effects of divorce for the person?

Back 14

Financial stress, loss of social networks and support, child care and custody, degression, loneliness, diminished self-esteem

Front 15

What four factors are associated with divorce?

Back 15

Age at the time of marriage, socioeconomic level, personality traits, family history of divorce

Front 16

What are some "losses" associated with divorce?

Back 16

Finances, social networks and support, social roles, self-concept, and material possessions.

Front 17

What are some of the effective methods of coping with divorce?

Back 17

Thinking of divorce as a healthy life transition; letting go of the old relationship, reestablishing new ties with others, and where children are involved, redefining the parental role.

Front 18

What are some of the potential difficulties experienced by blended families?

Back 18

Stepparents and step children don't know how to act toward each other, the addition of new biological children from the current marriage detracts from relationships between stepmothers and their stepchildren.

Front 19

What are some of the reasons for cohabitation?

Back 19

Often a precursor to or substitute for marrriage, or a testing ground for marital incompatibility.

Front 20

What are some of the reasons people choose to become parents?

Back 20

Having someone to love, giving their parents grandchildren, having someone to care for them when they are old, having a sibling for another child, and giving them something to do.

Front 21

Describe the stages of parenthood.

Back 21

Early to middle years from infancy to adolescence, often characterized by a great deal of strain, parenting adolescents, often seen as a power struggle between child and parent, post parental years, when children have left home.