GERONTOLOGY 300 /PSYCHOLOGY 374
EXAM #2A - (Chapters 5, 6, 7, & 9)  
NOTE:  THIS EXAM IS OPEN BOOK, OPEN NOTES AND LECTURE LINKS

1.         Under the Social Security law, in order for a woman to receive her divorced husband's 
            benefits must have been married to him at least 

            a.   5 years

            b.   10 years

            c.   15 years

            d.   20 years

 

2.         The senses (vision, touch, hearing, smell, and taste) generally

            a.   lose their sharpness with age

            b.   increase their sharpness with age

            c.   remain stable with age

            d.   are cyclical over time

 

3.         Presbyopia is a disorder of:

            a.   muscles

            b.   bones

            c.   hearing

            d.   vision

 

4.         Many of the deteriorations and health problems that are associated with aging has been  
            thought to be inevitable; however, new research may indicate that:

            a.   improper diet, sedentary lifestyle and inappropriate stress management play an  important role in the
                  rate of physical decline .

            b.   physical decline in the bones and muscles is accelerated by nonuse

            c.   aging and ill health are not necessarily associated with each other

            d.   all the above   

           

5.         Exercise for people in late life is 

            a.   an excellent way to improve and maintain good health. 

            b.  only valuable if it was started at an early age. 

            c.   dangerous and risky after the age of 75

            d.   only beneficial if it is vigorous and aerobic.

            e.   all of the above

 

6.         The curvilinear pattern of marital satisfaction with length of time married suggests that 
            marital satisfaction:

            a.   is high in early years and returns to a high level when children leave home.

            b.   increases with length of time married.

            c.   decreases with length of time married.

            d.   is low to begin with, decreases further when children are being raised, and  
                 increases after children leave home.

  

7.         Grandparenthood in the U.S.:

            a.   tends to be a formal, rather than informal, role.

            b.   for an increasing number is becoming a parenting role.

            c.   is hardly a role anymore because older people are in the work force and don't have 
                  time for grand parenting.

            d.   for most (more than 75%) it is a marginal role.

 

8.         A "convoy" is:

            a.   supportive family and friends.

            b.   a medical social work support system

            c.   the entire neighborhood

            d.   the total sum of intimate friends over the life span

 

9.         Fictive kin are people who

            a.   don't really exist

            b.   are hired to provide care

            c.   function as family but are not related

            d.   are family but do not interact with you

 

10.        Since sexual activity is a physiological function, in order to maintain function in later 
             life, you must

            a.   conserve ability by having fewer incidents of sexual activity

            b.   make sexual activity something that you no longer think about

            c.   use it or lose it

            d.   avoid sexual activity because it is dangerous to your health

 

11.        Which group of elders has the highest poverty rate?

            a.   those living in the central city

            b.   those with less than 8 years of schooling

            c.   Hispanics living alone

            d.   Black women living alone

 

12.        The family life cycle

            a.   comes in fixed stages

            b.   reflects the ever-changing quality of our family roles

            c.   is shorter today compared to the last century

            d.   is static for older people

 

13.        The theory that we are genetically preprogrammed to live a certain length of time is ______________theory.

            a.   error

            b.   biological clock

            c.   wear and tear

            d.   free radical

 

14.        Studies of aged siblings indicate:

            a.   contact is greatest in middle age and then declines

            b.   the sister-to-sister tie is closest

            c.   they are primary to all other relationships

            d.   few aged persons have siblings alive

 

15.        The Culture of Poverty refers to:

            a.   social network of the homeless

            b.   the hopelessness and despair in the poverty subculture

            c.   deprivation compared to someone else's success

            d.   the norms condoning thievery among the street people--
                  all of whom are fighting each other for scant resources

 

16.        The never-married tend to have

            a.   more acquaintance-type friends than married persons

            b.   few friends

            c.   an intimate friend that is the equivalent of a spouse

            d.   the same friendship patterns as married persons

 

17.        Relative deprivation means

            a.   an objective measure of how deprived a person is

            b.   how deprived one's relatives or ancestors were

            c.   a subjective measure of how deprived one is

            d.   comparing one's poverty when one was young with how poor young people are today.

 

18.        Which of the following does not constitute a role exit?

            a.  grandparenthood

            b.   retirement

            c.   widowhood

            d.   sibling death

 

19.        When discussing Social Security, the  COLA is

            a.   a yearly bonus

            b.   the profit margin of the system's investments

            c.   the proportion of workers to non-workers

            d.   an amendment instituted in 1972 to protect the value of recipient's benefits

            e.   a plan to keep Social Security solvent

 

20.        The happiest elders are those who are:

            a.   single, never married

            b.   divorced

            c.   widowed

            d.   married

 

21.        Masters and Johnson found in their study of sexuality that older women:

            a.   have larger clitoris

            b.   have larger vaginal canals

            c.   have thick vaginal walls

            d.   take longer to lubricate

 

22.        The finding that individuals become more religious with age is 

            a.   conclusively demonstrated

            b.   possibly due to older people being more religious when young. 

            c.   not true because most are not religious at all. 

            d.   not a legitimate concern of gerontologist and should be left in the area of 
                 religion rather than science. 

            e.   none of the above

 

23.        The majority of aged widows

            a.   remarry

            b.   live in families

            c.   live alone

            d.   live with a man without marriage

 

24.        Experiments with diet restriction in animals have shown a positive correlation between 
            reduced caloric intake and  

            a.   length of life span. 

            b.   shortened life span. 

            c.   increased rate of diseases. 

            d.   hastened aging process.

 

25.        The minimum age to receive Social Security benefits 
            (other than as disabled or surviving dependent) is

            a.   65

            b.   62

            c.   60

            d.   50

 

26.        Social Security is:

            a.   an insurance that provides older people with enough funds to retire by age 65

            b.   increasing the retirement age to 67 years by the year 2022

            c.   responsible for much of the federal government’s debt

            d.   distributed by a method called “means testing”

            e.   none of the above

 

27.        Older adults’ income can be affected by:

            a.   interest rates, inflation and politics

            b.   their work history (how many years they worked and their salary),
                  home value, and amount of savings

            c.   their gender, race, and class position

            d.   their age

            e.   all the above

 

28.        Providing care for someone in their own home who needs around-the-clock help

            a.   is a covered service by Medicare and IHSS (In-Home-Supportive-Services)

            b.   can more than $6,000 per month and often makes the elderly person vulnerable 
                  to physical and financial abuse

            c.   has historically been provided by more daughters than sons in America

            d.   all the above

            e.   b and c

 

29.        The biggest threat to the Social Security program is/are the

            a.   declining birth rate

            b.   end of mandatory retirement

            c.   Pension Reform Act of 1974

            d.   Supreme Court decisions on test cases

 

30.        The most common cause of accidental death among those 65 and over is:

            a.   suffocation

            b.   falls

            c.   motor vehicle accidents

            d.   fire

 

31.        Which of the following is NOT true of chronic health conditions?

            a.   they come on slowly over time

            b.   they are short term

            c.   the cause is usually unknown

            d.   cures are typically not available

            e.   all the above

 

32.        Chronic health conditions (as opposed to acute)

            a.   come on slowly over one’s life and last throughout life

            b.   can often be traced to lifestyle behaviors

            c.   become more apparent with advancing age

            d.   can not be cured and their treatment is aimed at maintaining current level of 
                  functioning

            e.   all the above

 

33.        The typical nursing home patient is

            a.   a black, widowed man

            b.   a white, widowed woman

            c.   a black, divorced woman

            d.   a white, widowed man

 

34.        Masters and Johnson found in their studies of sexuality that:

            a.   older men take longer to get an erection

            b.   older men have greater ejaculatory forcefulness

            c.   older men can have multiple erections sooner than younger men

            d.   age made no difference

 

35.        Age-related change

            a.   is always caused by aging

            b.   may or may not be caused by aging

            c.  are not exemplified by poor health

            d.   is psychological as opposed to biological

 

Essay Questions.  Be sure to read each question carefully and to answer it completely, using
complete sentences, in your own words, using course materials, do not cut and paste, and do not
use any web sites not used in this course.  

 
Choose any 3 of the following 5 questions to answer.  Answer only 3 questions as only 3 
will be graded. Each question is worth up to 5 points depending on your answer.  
If you choose to answer the extra credit question you will answer a total of four (4) questions.

 

36.        In the lecture a number of reasons were given to support the statement that in the area 
            of sexual activity “older folks do it better.”  Explain  at least 3 of the reasons for this statement.

 

 

 

37.        How does your work history influence your Social Security benefits? 
 Include at least 4 points and explain each of them.

 

 

 

38.        Explain the CARS Method of web site evaluation. Be sure to explain each of the points.

 

 

 

 

39.   How are intimacy and sexuality affected by dementia? Be sure to explain your points.

 

 

 

40.        The group with the highest risk of poverty is very old, minority women. 
             This is referred to as "triple jeopardy". Explain why each of these   factors 
             (very old, minority, and female) would place a person at higher risk for being very poor.

           

Is  your name on your email?
You must answer three questions above in order to qualify for the extra credit question. 


Extra Credit Question - worth possible 3 points

Note If you did not answer three above you are not eligible for the extra credit.

 

In thinking about the different styles of grand parenting, what style of grand parenting did 
you receive (if you remember your grandparents) or what style of grandparent are you 
(if you have grandchildren) or will you be when you do have grandchildren? Give examples.