SFL 160 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Define Family Systems: - Answers - The individuals, rules, boundaries, routines, and
norms that are associated with a self-defined group of individuals
Define family process: - Answers - The ways in which family members interact and work
together to achieve the goals and functioning of their family unit.
Name the 3 goals of why we study family studies: - Answers - - Understand the
complexities of family systems
- Help unhealthy families and support healthy families
- Understand the human life course
What are the current perceptions of marriage among young adults? - Answers - Most
young adults plan to marry but are not optimistic about it lasting due to
steady/decreasing divorces rates and marriage rates decreasing
What are the current trends of marriage? - Answers - Delay in the average age of
marriage, and fewer people getting married. Total number of marriages has recently
been declining.
What are the current trends of divorce? - Answers - Divorces peaked in the late 1980s
before declining and then slightly decreasing in recent decades.
Does decreasing divorce rates mean that marriages are healthier? - Answers - Not
necessarily
- In fact, marriages today are generally less happy than those thirty years ago for both
men and women.
What are the current trends of cohabitation? - Answers - Increased in the last 30 years
- today it is NOT about testing relationships, rather it has become a normative part of
the dating process
What are the current trends of fertility? - Answers - In most industrialized countries, like
the US, fertility rates are often well below the replacement rate (which is 2.1)
- their populations are likely decreasing because of this
What is emerging adulthood? - Answers - A new life stage between adolescence and
young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25
Families are________________ - Answers - Complex
Define pure truth: - Answers - Spiritual knowledge that comes from God.
- spiritual sources like scriptures, prophets and apostles, personal revelation, etc.
, Define Diluted truth: - Answers - Truth that comes from secular, scholarly, or expert
sources
- Truth from the research process is inherently flawed and open to interpretation. We
have limited knowledge as humans
Define relative truth: - Answers - Truth that comes from our own personal experiences
and perceptions.
- we use relative truth to interpret and analyze both diluted and pure truths.
Define Construct: - Answers - How we conceptualize something that cannot be
measured directly
i.e. love, determination
Define Variable: - Answers - Something that varies and is measurable
Define (statistical) relationships: - Answers - How two or more variables interact
- i.e. as one increases/decreases, the other increases/decreases
Define sample bias: - Answers - The people and families we learn from will limit or skew
our findings in some way
- Some members of the population are systematically more likely to be selected in a
sample than others
Define researcher bias: - Answers - Occurs when the individuals who do the studies
change the results (intentionally or unintentionally)
based on how they gather or interpret the results.
i.e. the type of research questions they ask, or their pre-existing beliefs may skew the
way they interpret their findings
Define causation: - Answers - Indicates a relationship between two events where one
event causes the other
Define correlation: - Answers - Indicated an association between two variables - not that
one variable caused a change in another.
Define spurious relationships: - Answers - The relationship looks real mathematically,
but really there's no direct relationship
i.e. ice cream consumption is statistically related to crime
Define reductionism and its role in creating theory: - Answers - This is what family
theories are attempting to do - take an incredibly complex thing (like families) and
reduce them into a few central ideas.
Define theory: - Answers - Allows us to arrange our constructs into meaningful patterns.
Define Family Systems: - Answers - The individuals, rules, boundaries, routines, and
norms that are associated with a self-defined group of individuals
Define family process: - Answers - The ways in which family members interact and work
together to achieve the goals and functioning of their family unit.
Name the 3 goals of why we study family studies: - Answers - - Understand the
complexities of family systems
- Help unhealthy families and support healthy families
- Understand the human life course
What are the current perceptions of marriage among young adults? - Answers - Most
young adults plan to marry but are not optimistic about it lasting due to
steady/decreasing divorces rates and marriage rates decreasing
What are the current trends of marriage? - Answers - Delay in the average age of
marriage, and fewer people getting married. Total number of marriages has recently
been declining.
What are the current trends of divorce? - Answers - Divorces peaked in the late 1980s
before declining and then slightly decreasing in recent decades.
Does decreasing divorce rates mean that marriages are healthier? - Answers - Not
necessarily
- In fact, marriages today are generally less happy than those thirty years ago for both
men and women.
What are the current trends of cohabitation? - Answers - Increased in the last 30 years
- today it is NOT about testing relationships, rather it has become a normative part of
the dating process
What are the current trends of fertility? - Answers - In most industrialized countries, like
the US, fertility rates are often well below the replacement rate (which is 2.1)
- their populations are likely decreasing because of this
What is emerging adulthood? - Answers - A new life stage between adolescence and
young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25
Families are________________ - Answers - Complex
Define pure truth: - Answers - Spiritual knowledge that comes from God.
- spiritual sources like scriptures, prophets and apostles, personal revelation, etc.
, Define Diluted truth: - Answers - Truth that comes from secular, scholarly, or expert
sources
- Truth from the research process is inherently flawed and open to interpretation. We
have limited knowledge as humans
Define relative truth: - Answers - Truth that comes from our own personal experiences
and perceptions.
- we use relative truth to interpret and analyze both diluted and pure truths.
Define Construct: - Answers - How we conceptualize something that cannot be
measured directly
i.e. love, determination
Define Variable: - Answers - Something that varies and is measurable
Define (statistical) relationships: - Answers - How two or more variables interact
- i.e. as one increases/decreases, the other increases/decreases
Define sample bias: - Answers - The people and families we learn from will limit or skew
our findings in some way
- Some members of the population are systematically more likely to be selected in a
sample than others
Define researcher bias: - Answers - Occurs when the individuals who do the studies
change the results (intentionally or unintentionally)
based on how they gather or interpret the results.
i.e. the type of research questions they ask, or their pre-existing beliefs may skew the
way they interpret their findings
Define causation: - Answers - Indicates a relationship between two events where one
event causes the other
Define correlation: - Answers - Indicated an association between two variables - not that
one variable caused a change in another.
Define spurious relationships: - Answers - The relationship looks real mathematically,
but really there's no direct relationship
i.e. ice cream consumption is statistically related to crime
Define reductionism and its role in creating theory: - Answers - This is what family
theories are attempting to do - take an incredibly complex thing (like families) and
reduce them into a few central ideas.
Define theory: - Answers - Allows us to arrange our constructs into meaningful patterns.
