Deck 14: Young and Middle-Aged Adults

Question 1

In 2014 in the U.S., the leading cause of death for young adults ages 25-34 was .

A) cancer
B) homicide
C) accidents
D) diseases of the heart
E) suicide

Answer 1

C

Question 2

By 2014, HIV infection in young adults in the U.S. .

A) was no longer among the ten leading causes of death
B) had fallen by more than 28,000 deaths since 1994
C) had declined since 1994 by over 90% in deaths
D) All of these
E) None of these

Answer 2

D

Question 3

in 2014, the leading cancer cause of deaths among adults were:

A) Breast cancer among females
B) Prostate cancer among males
C) Lung cancer for both sexes
D) Colorectal cancer for both sexes
E) None of these

Answer 3

C

Question 4

According to Erikson's theory of the human life cycle, the predominant developmental issue in young adulthood is:

A) Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
B) Initiative vs. guilt
C) Basic trust vs. mistrust
D) Intimacy vs. isolation
E) Identity vs. role confusion

Question 5

According to Erikson's theory of the human life cycle, normative developmental tasks in young and middle adulthood involve achieving .

A) isolation and self-absorption
B) stagnation and role-confusion
C) intimacy and generativity
D) ego integrity vs. despair
E) initiative and industry

Question 6

During middle adulthood, attitudes toward death are most likely to be affected by .

A) the suddenness of the deaths that these adults encounter
B) a newly personalized sense of mortality
C) their view of death as resulting from ill fortune
D) the deaths of peers, parents, and spouses from human-induced causes
E) a growing sense of personal invulnerability

Question 7

In 2014, adults 25-64 years of age experience what percent of all deaths in the U.S.?

A) Almost 8 percent
B) Approximately 17 percent
C) Just over 24 percent
D) Nearly 35 percent
E) About 41 percent

Question 8

Levinson maintained that the alternating sequence of developmental "seasons" in which there are structure building- maintaining periods and transitional periods holds for .

A) men
B) women
C) both men and women
D) neither men nor women
E) None of these

Question 9

In midlife, a newly personalized sense of mortality is likely to affect thoughts about .

A) what one's death will mean for children and family members
B) one's own personal death
C) vocational and other projects affected by one's death
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 10

During the adult years, events occurring around midlife are likely to provoke .

A) a retrospective assessment of one's achievements
B) a focus on time lived
C) an unwillingness to reevaluate life and self
D) a wariness about making funeral preparations for self and family
E) a fantasized belief that the future stretches ahead endlessly

Question 11

In 2014 in the U.S., overall death rates during adulthood were highest in the:

A) 25-34 year old age group
B) 35-44 year old age group
C) 45-54 year old age group
D) 55-64 year old age group
E) None of these

Question 12

You have a close friend age 25 who is terminally ill. The best thing you could do for your friend is:

A) Make decisions for him or her
B) Draw attention away from the illness
C) Visit infrequently
D) Maintain a close relationship
E) Send flowers

Question 13

Throughout young and middle adulthood, the highest death rates occurred among:

A) Caucasian Americans
B) Hispanic Americans
C) African Americans
D) Asian and Pacific Island Americans
E) American Indians and Alaska Natives

Question 14

In general, it can be said of adulthood that it is:

A) An era in which a tumultuous midlife transition will be experienced
B) A period of exploring and exploiting the identity established in earlier stages of development
C) An era in which individuals seek to establish a sense of trust
D) An era in which one's stable identity is first established
E) One of the briefest eras in human development

Question 15

The phrase "sandwich generation" describes .

A) what deaths of grandparents mean to children
B) what deaths of adolescents mean to the elderly
C) the impact of HIV infection on dying families
D) pressures on adults from older and younger generations
E) eating patterns in middle adults

Question 16

According to Cook and Oltjenbruns, coping with life-threatening illness and dying among young adults is likely to challenge their need to:

A) Express their sexuality
B) Develop intimate relationships
C) Obtain realistic support for their goals and future plans
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 17

In 2014 in the U.S., the two leading causes of death among middle adults ages 45-64 were:

A) Cancer and heart disease
B) Homicide and accidents
C) Accidents and cancer
D) Suicide and homicide
E) HIV infection and cancer

Question 18

According to research published in 2015, there has been "a marked increase in the all- cause mortality of middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States between 1999 and 2013." According to the researchers, this change _.

A) extended decades of progress
B) was not unique to the United States
C) showed the largest increases among those with less education
D) was not paralleled by increases in midlife morbidity
E) was contradicted by self-reports declines in health and ability to conduct activities of daily living.

Question 19

According to Erikson's theory of the human life cycle, the predominant developmental issue in middle adulthood is:

A) Generativity vs. stagnation or self-absorption
B) Intimacy vs. isolation
C) Initiative vs. built
D) Industry vs. inferiority
E) Hope

Question 20

In the 21st century, death has impacted some young and middle-aged adults in distinctive ways through .

A) service in the military reserves
B) their work as rescuers at the World Trade Center
C) membership in the National Guard
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 21

For many adults who have experienced the death of a loved one who died in the military in various conflicts, this type of death is particularly difficult because:

A) It involves a natural loss.
B) It may have involved a suicide.
C) It may have occurred in traumatic ways.
D) It was unpatriotic.
E) It is accompanied by formal memorial services.

Question 22

An action that facilitates parental grief and mourning following the death of an infant is .

A) immediately disposing of the infant's body
B) seeing and holding the dead infant
C) removing evidence of preparations for the infant
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 23

For middle-aged adults who are dying, planning one's own funeral and making burial arrangements represents _________.

A) an inability to minimize post-death burdens on others
B) a healthy vitality
C) a morbid surrender to impending death
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 24

Parental bereavement among adults represents .

A) the death of the bereaved person's past
B) the death of the bereaved person's present
C) the death of the bereaved person's future
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 25

For an adult, the death of his or her parent or grandparent .

A) initiates his or her place in the "sandwich generation"
B) inaugurates the "empty nest syndrome"
C) removes a generational "buffer"
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 26

A parent whose child has died may find it difficult to answer the question, "How many children do you have?", because _.

A) the parent may wonder, "What does this death mean for me?"
B) the parent may be unsure how to be faithful to the deceased child
C) the parent might be unsure how much of his or her personal life to disclose to the questioner
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 27

Parental grief associated with fetal death is primarily related to

A) the fact that bonding does not begin until birth
B) the need to abandon an existing bonding process
C) the nature of the attachment
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 28

An adult who experiences a death in a significant adult-to-adult relationship will experience the loss not only of another person, but also of .

A) his or her job
B) a portion of his or her own identity
C) his or her family of origin
D) the children associated with that relationship
E) None of these

Question 29

A complicating factor in most parental bereavement is .

A) grief
B) timeliness
C) guilt
D) prior experience with loss
E) mourning

Question 30

Mrs. K, age 54, is diagnosed with lung cancer with a prognosis of six months to live. She has a loving husband and two children. According to developmental theorists, her response to this situation is likely to be to:

A) Contemplate suicide
B) Make plans for the future
C) Become self-indulgent
D) Change therapies and treatment
E) None of these

Question 31

What is most characteristic of bereavement in young and middle adults is the potential to experience:

A) A larger number of deaths than other age groups
B) The most deaths in a lifetime
C) More types of death-related losses than other groups
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 32

After Sally's husband died suddenly in his early 40s, she was very angry with God and found it difficult to accept what had happened. Sally was very devout and had supported her church for many years. Her anger is:

A) A normal reaction
B) An unacceptable response to what has happened
C) A betrayal of her religious faith
D) A deviant psychosocial manifestation of underlying troubles
E) An example of anticipatory grief

Question 33

When her older sister died, Cokie Roberts (see Personal Insights 14.4 in the eighth edition of Death & Dying, Life & Living) wrote that _.

A) she would have preferred that her brother had died
B) she had been robbed of some part of her future
C) she would continue to be able to talk about new events with her sister
D) she was now experiencing intellectually what she had previously only grasped emotionally
E) she still had her past and had not been deprived of that

Question 34

Difficulties experienced by adult parents in coping with neonatal and other infant deaths are primarily associated with _________.

A) the untimeliness of the death
B) the youth of the parents
C) the availability of prior warning of the death
D) the inexperience of the parents
E) None of these

Question 35

Neonatal deaths may be complicated and made difficult for parents as a result of:

A) The possibility that one or more parents may be excluded or not always able to be present
B) The nature of the attachment they have to their offspring
C) The fact that these deaths often occur in an institutional context
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 36

When Florence Griffith Joyner ("FloJo") died suddenly and unexpectedly, her husband found some degree of consolation in .

A) writing poetry
B) planning his suicide
C) keeping a journal
D) looking at her trophies, medals, and pictures
E) hearing her voice on her telephone answering tape

Question 37

According to Cook & Oltjenbruns, life-threatening illness and dying among middle-aged adults challenge their need to _________.

A) discontinue their roles
B) set aside existing obligations
C) reevaluate their lives
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 38

When friends withdraw from a young adult who is seriously ill or dying, the likely result for the dying person is _________.

A) a loss of affiliation and love
B) preoccupation with surroundings
C) affirmation of value and worth
D) support for the pursuit of intimacy
E) reciprocal self-disclosure

Question 39

For an adult, the death of his or her parent or grandparent is likely to .

A) initiate his or her place in the "sandwich generation"
B) inaugurate the "empty nest syndrome"
C) provide a "developmental push"
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 40

For young adults who are coping with life-threatening illness and dying, sexuality is .

A) not a matter of concern
B) focused on sexual intercourse
C) a subject that caregivers should not encourage
D) expressed in many thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
E) None of these

Question 41

Compare and contrast three (3) important differences between encounters with death in young adulthood vs. middle adulthood. Explain your answer.

Question 42

Why are attitudes toward death especially likely to change during middle adulthood?
Explain your answer.

Question 43

Describe gender and role differences in parental bereavement. Give specific examples.

Question 44

What can we learn from exploring possible sources of guilt in parental bereavement?

Question 45

Explain the meaning of the phrase "sandwich generation" in relationship to issues of death, dying, and bereavement.

Question 46

Identify and explain one (1) distinctive feature of adult bereavement associated with the death of a fetus, a newborn, or an infant and one (1) constructive way in which such bereaved adults could be helped.

Question 47

It has been said that the death of a parent will give his or her adult child a "develop- mental push." Explain this concept and give an example of how it has or might occur in your own life.

Question 48

Identify and explain three (3) important characteristics of adult bereavement brought about by the death of a child. Be specific. Give concrete examples.

Question 49

Compare and contrast three (3) important differences between young adults and middle-aged adults who are coping with life-threatening illness or dying. Explain your answer.

Question 50

Identify and explain three (3) important factors that are likely to be influential in affecting the attitudes toward death of young and middle-aged adults. Be specific.