Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Chapter 1 Images, Ideals, and Myths
1) Because nearly everyone has experience as a member of a family, it is relatively easy to arrive at an objective
understanding of families.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
2) Myths and images about families influence our expectations and assumptions about family life.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 4
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
3) Of all the images of family, the image of family as encumbrance has been around the longest.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 6
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
4) Myths are beliefs that are held uncritically and without examination.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 8
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
5) Fewer than 10 percent of American families consist of a breadwinner husband, stay-at-home wife, and their
dependent children.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 11
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
6) The myth of a unified family experience refers to the belief that middle-class and upper-class families differ
very little.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 14
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
7) Age and gender are key factors influencing an individual’s experience of family life.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 14
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
8) The definitions of the terms “household” and “family” are nearly identical.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 11
Difficulty: Easy
85
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
,Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Type: Conceptual
9) According to the text, divorce and single parenthood are better viewed as the consequences of social problems
rather than the cause.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 17
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
10) The field of family studies has experienced very little change over the past thirty years.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 21
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
11) To analyze the family using a sociological perspective, one must
A) promote the nuclear family ideal.
B) understand the larger social context in which families are embedded.
C) engage in micro-level analysis of family interaction.
D) all of the above
Answer: B
Page Ref: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
12) An obstacle to objectivity in studying families is
A) secrecy.
B) mystification.
C) sacredness.
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 3
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
13) Using sociologist Erving Goffman’s term “backstage area” to describe family points to the idea that
A) family is a haven in a heartless world.
B) family members are always acting out social roles.
C) family is an area of privacy where people are free to act in ways they would not act in public.
D) family is completely severed from public intervention.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 3
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
14) All of the following are distinct family images that have emerged in American culture except
A) family as haven.
B) family as anxiety.
C) family as encumbrance.
D) family as fulfillment.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 5
86
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
,Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
15) Love and protection are the two distinct themes in which of the following images of family?
A) family as haven
B) family as anxiety
C) family as encumbrance
D) family as fulfillment
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
16) The image of “family as fulfillment” gives rise to which of the following observations?
A) The family provides intimacy and personal satisfaction that can be found no where else.
B) We tend to blame the family for inhibiting full human development.
C) Family needs are attained through responsibility, duty, and hard work.
D) Having children is the greatest fulfillment of family life.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
17) Dorothy Smith refers to the Standard North American Family (SNAF) as
A) an idealized image.
B) an insulated two-parent family.
C) a distortion of reality.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 7
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
18) According to the text, despite changes in family images over time, an enduring theme in popular
understanding suggests that
A) relationships among family members are expected to be stable and harmonious.
B) family is the locus of competition and violence.
C) relationships among family members are no longer idealized.
D) people do not take media images of the family seriously.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 7
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
19) Myths can be described as
A) beliefs that have little to do with moral values.
B) beliefs that are held without examination or scrutiny.
C) beliefs that are often based in actual fact.
D) beliefs that challenge nostalgic images of the past.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 8
87
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
, Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
20) Which of the following statements exemplifies the myth of a stable and harmonious family of the past?
A) Marital failure and illegitimacy are modern phenomena which did not exist in pre-industrial families.
B) Families are self-sufficient units relatively free from outside pressures.
C) Contemporary families are not better or worse than families of the past, only different.
D) We expect less from family life today than we did in the past.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 8
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
21) The “myth of separate worlds” refers to
A) the sharp distinction between childhood and adulthood.
B) the idea that men and women experience marriage differently.
C) the belief that families of the past and families of the present have nothing in common.
D) the belief that families operate in isolation from other social institutions such as politics or the economy.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 9
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
22) Family Darwinism means
A) family success or failure is the result of how “fit” a specific family form is.
B) family relationships are largely determined by genes.
C) the leader of each family emerges out of a struggle for power.
D) sibling relationships are shaped by the struggle for power.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 10
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
23) Which of the following argues against the myth of separate worlds?
A) The experience of working women points to the interrelationship of work and family.
B) Families interact with institutions such as schools.
C) Parents share the authority for raising their children with organizations and institutions outside the family.
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 10
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
24) Globalization
A) increases the control of nation-states over the welfare of their families.
B) decreases the control families have over their own members.
C) decreases the mobility of workers.
D) all of the above
Answer: B
Page Ref: 11
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Applied
88
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1 Images, Ideals, and Myths
1) Because nearly everyone has experience as a member of a family, it is relatively easy to arrive at an objective
understanding of families.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
2) Myths and images about families influence our expectations and assumptions about family life.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 4
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
3) Of all the images of family, the image of family as encumbrance has been around the longest.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 6
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
4) Myths are beliefs that are held uncritically and without examination.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 8
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
5) Fewer than 10 percent of American families consist of a breadwinner husband, stay-at-home wife, and their
dependent children.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 11
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
6) The myth of a unified family experience refers to the belief that middle-class and upper-class families differ
very little.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 14
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
7) Age and gender are key factors influencing an individual’s experience of family life.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 14
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
8) The definitions of the terms “household” and “family” are nearly identical.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 11
Difficulty: Easy
85
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
,Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Type: Conceptual
9) According to the text, divorce and single parenthood are better viewed as the consequences of social problems
rather than the cause.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 17
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
10) The field of family studies has experienced very little change over the past thirty years.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 21
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Factual
11) To analyze the family using a sociological perspective, one must
A) promote the nuclear family ideal.
B) understand the larger social context in which families are embedded.
C) engage in micro-level analysis of family interaction.
D) all of the above
Answer: B
Page Ref: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
12) An obstacle to objectivity in studying families is
A) secrecy.
B) mystification.
C) sacredness.
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 3
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
13) Using sociologist Erving Goffman’s term “backstage area” to describe family points to the idea that
A) family is a haven in a heartless world.
B) family members are always acting out social roles.
C) family is an area of privacy where people are free to act in ways they would not act in public.
D) family is completely severed from public intervention.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 3
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
14) All of the following are distinct family images that have emerged in American culture except
A) family as haven.
B) family as anxiety.
C) family as encumbrance.
D) family as fulfillment.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 5
86
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
,Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
15) Love and protection are the two distinct themes in which of the following images of family?
A) family as haven
B) family as anxiety
C) family as encumbrance
D) family as fulfillment
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
16) The image of “family as fulfillment” gives rise to which of the following observations?
A) The family provides intimacy and personal satisfaction that can be found no where else.
B) We tend to blame the family for inhibiting full human development.
C) Family needs are attained through responsibility, duty, and hard work.
D) Having children is the greatest fulfillment of family life.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
17) Dorothy Smith refers to the Standard North American Family (SNAF) as
A) an idealized image.
B) an insulated two-parent family.
C) a distortion of reality.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 7
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Conceptual
18) According to the text, despite changes in family images over time, an enduring theme in popular
understanding suggests that
A) relationships among family members are expected to be stable and harmonious.
B) family is the locus of competition and violence.
C) relationships among family members are no longer idealized.
D) people do not take media images of the family seriously.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 7
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
19) Myths can be described as
A) beliefs that have little to do with moral values.
B) beliefs that are held without examination or scrutiny.
C) beliefs that are often based in actual fact.
D) beliefs that challenge nostalgic images of the past.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 8
87
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
, Test Bank for Baca Zinn/Eitzen/Wells, Diversity in Families, 10E
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
20) Which of the following statements exemplifies the myth of a stable and harmonious family of the past?
A) Marital failure and illegitimacy are modern phenomena which did not exist in pre-industrial families.
B) Families are self-sufficient units relatively free from outside pressures.
C) Contemporary families are not better or worse than families of the past, only different.
D) We expect less from family life today than we did in the past.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 8
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
21) The “myth of separate worlds” refers to
A) the sharp distinction between childhood and adulthood.
B) the idea that men and women experience marriage differently.
C) the belief that families of the past and families of the present have nothing in common.
D) the belief that families operate in isolation from other social institutions such as politics or the economy.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 9
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Conceptual
22) Family Darwinism means
A) family success or failure is the result of how “fit” a specific family form is.
B) family relationships are largely determined by genes.
C) the leader of each family emerges out of a struggle for power.
D) sibling relationships are shaped by the struggle for power.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 10
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
23) Which of the following argues against the myth of separate worlds?
A) The experience of working women points to the interrelationship of work and family.
B) Families interact with institutions such as schools.
C) Parents share the authority for raising their children with organizations and institutions outside the family.
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 10
Difficulty: Medium
Type: Applied
24) Globalization
A) increases the control of nation-states over the welfare of their families.
B) decreases the control families have over their own members.
C) decreases the mobility of workers.
D) all of the above
Answer: B
Page Ref: 11
Difficulty: Easy
Type: Applied
88
Copyright ©2015, 2011, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
