Deck 9: Spousal Relationships

Question 1

Less is demanded of marriage in terms of relationship quality than in the past.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Overall, at any point in time, only about 20 percent of marriages are unhappy.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Same-sex and opposite-sex couples utilize similar conflict resolution mechanisms.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The U-curve phenomenon of marital quality may not apply in societies that offer more child care support to parents and where the parental role does not predominate over the conjugal role.

Question 5

By the age of retirement, almost 80 percent of Canadians are living as part of a couple.

Question 6

The equitable gendered and the egalitarian non-gendered forms of domestic division of labour yield a very different number of hours of housework and child care for men and women.

Question 7

The specialist division of household labour is always a gendered one.

Question 8

The concept of emotional work refers to the fact that women are more emotional than men.

Question 9

While wives are not necessarily more invested in the stability of their marriage than husbands, they are more invested in its quality maintenance.

Question 10

From a methodological perspective, it is usually fairly easy to draw large random samples of same-sex couples

Question 11

Most studies show a decrease in marital happiness after the birth of a first child.

Question 12

Parents who have a good marital relationship tend to have children who have better outcomes. One explanation may reside in the home environment these parents provide.

Question 13

Children who are raised in households with marital conflict learn that quarrelling is an appropriate way to resolve conflict.

Question 14

Men have more power in intimate relationships because

A) they are physically stronger.
B) they bring more money into the relationship.
C) they are more powerful agents of the construction of reality.
D) they are biologically and genetically constructed to be more rational.
E) they have greater power in the public sphere of work.

Question 15

The cultural focus of marriage as an institution has shifted to an ____________axis emphasizing needs and gratification.

A) communal
B) cultural
C) social
D) individualistic
E) symbolic

Question 16

Vital couples

A) are characterized by physical energy and vitality.
B) emphasize togetherness and sharing.
C) do not divorce.
D) account for half of all married couples.
E) rarely spend time together because of their busy lives outside the marriage.

Question 17

In 1965, Cuber and Haroff developed their typology of marriage configurations by

A) conducting library archival research.
B) reading the personal diaries of couples.
C) conducting in-depth interviews with couples.
D) observing couples for long periods.
E) administering written questionnaires to couples.

Question 18

Devitalized couples

A) have once been in love and shared much.
B) are characterized by conflict.
C) do not parent very well.
D) are only found among older couples.
E) renew their relationship when children leave home.

Question 19

A marriage

A) can pass from a devitalized one to a revitalized after the first-born child.
B) can pass from a conflict-habituated one to a total relationship.
C) of any type is likely to lead to marital satisfaction.
D) of any type is equally at risk of divorce today.
E) can only sustain vitality through the honeymoon period.

Question 20

A marriage characterized by intense intimacy and attachment in the first few years that declines over the years of marriage is

A) a vital relationship.
B) a total relationship.
C) a devitalized relationship.
D) a conflict-habituated relationship.
E) a cultural-reproductive familial relationship.

Question 21

A married couple who have the same personal and professional interests that they choose to pursue separately would most likely have

A) a vital relationship
B) a total relationship
C) a congenial-reproductive familial relationship.
D) a cultural-reproductive familial relationship.
E) a congenial relationship

Question 22

Cultural reproductive-familial couples

A) see parenting as the purpose of marriage.
B) decide to marry due to pregnancy.
C) tend to marry outside of the same ethnic group.
D) enter into marriages that are arranged for them.
E) do not become emotionally close.

Question 23

Marital happiness

A) is universally recognized as necessary to marital stability.
B) is relatively consistent across the lifespan of a relationship.
C) is based on the same expectations as it was in the 1960s.
D) is a concept that appears to be unique to western countries.
E) is based on the same expectations for both spouses.

Question 24

A question used to measure marital adjustment may be

A) How often do you see your wife's parents?
B) How often is your husband sick?
C) How often do you quarrel?
D) How often have you been unemployed in the past year?
E) How often does your husband play with the children?

Question 25

Scales designed to measure a couple's marital happiness

A) are generally used to measure only one spouse's marital happiness.
B) are generally used to interview husbands at their place of work.
C) are always utilize during phone interviews.
D) are given to high school students so that they can report on their parents' marital happiness.
E) do none of the above.

Question 26

Persons who remain unhappily married develop lower levels of overall happiness and life happiness as well as

A) because their expectations were not met.diminished parenting skills.
B) even though divorce rates decreased.lower self-esteem and health.
C) and divorce rates increased.substance and alcohol abuse.
D) because they were struggling with balancing work and family.poor work performance.
E) even though their expectations of their relationship had been met.better communication.

Question 27

Which of the following reflects a gendered aspect to marital problems?

A) spending money foolishly.
B) drinking or using drugs.
C) having irritating habits.
D) infidelity.
E) marital problems affect women's health more negatively than they do men's.

Question 28

Why are remarriages as happy as first marriages yet also unstable?

A) Because people are older when they remarry.
B) Because couples are less tolerant of unfulfilled expectations the second time around.
C) Because remarriages last less long.
D) Because remarried couples have less money.
E) Because stepchildren create additional conflict.

Question 29

The U-curve of marital happiness refers to

A) couples who begin their relationship poorly but then become revitalized following counselling.
B) a yo-yo pattern of marital happiness and unhappiness.
C) the quality of the marriage dipping until children reach adolescence and beginning an upward trend after.
D) the fact that the quality of marriage has been declining since 1970 and is predicted to move upwardly soon as the generation X reaches pre-retirement.
E) the difference between the quality of marriage prior to having children and after.

Question 30

The matter of the household division of labour. Retirement may strain the marital relationship because

A) couples may have too much time on their hands and too little to say to each other, and thus some divorces occur at this stage.
B) financial insecurity may contribute to marital crises.
C) couples are shifting from a total relationship to a congenial one.
D) the stress of caring for grandchildren results in reduced leisure time.
E) males may value their new retired identity more than females.

Question 31

The domestic division of labour is a perfect example of the

A) process explained by exchange theory.
B) family as an inequitable institution.
C) roles which are assigned to family members.
D) relationship between domesticity and social stratification by gender.
E) range of activities required to maintain a household.

Question 32

Research on who does what and who is responsible and available for domestic labour

A) shows that it is usually negotiated prior to marriage.
B) focuses on behaviours rather than attitudes.
C) demonstrates that decisions about domestic labour are a source of conflict in all families.
D) demonstrates the impact of gender equality in the family.
E) shows that decisions are based on hours of employment and number of children in the family.

Question 33

With the egalitarian non-gendered domestic division of labour,

A) both spouses put in an unequal number of hours.
B) most two-income families are included.
C) both spouses participate according to ability.
D) both spouses participate equally.
E) both spouses are professionally employed.

Question 34

The equitable but gendered division of labour

A) generally involves couples who believe that it is fair that husbands participate less at home.
B) has each spouse doing different tasks according to gender.
C) has each spouse doing an equal amount of work on tasks that are assigned by gender roles.
D) now characterizes most two-income families.
E) is practiced predominantly by traditional families.

Question 35

The specialist division of labour

A) means that things get done by whichever spouse is the most qualified for each task.
B) involves hired help that specializes in certain tasks.
C) always results in an equitable situation.
D) is the one preferred by wives because it allows their husbands to do the most physically demanding jobs.
E) always results in an inequitable situation.

Question 36

In the case of the husband-helper division of labour

A) wives have greater flexibility in their schedules.
B) husbands can generally choose the timing of their help.
C) the husband will say, "This week, it's my turn to do the cooking".
D) both husbands and wives put in a similar number of hours.
E) wives restrict the involvement of their husbands.

Question 37

The complete division of labour

A) is based on non-traditional gender roles.
B) occurs in households where husbands and wives both choose to work full-time.
C) occurs in affluent homes.
D) tends to occur in working class homes.
E) is based on tightly scheduling hours of availability according to professional commitments.

Question 38

The delegated division of labour

A) is based on traditional gender roles.
B) is where neither spouse does the household work.
C) is based on non-traditional gender roles.
D) tends to occur in working class homes.
E) is based on tightly scheduling hours of availability according to professional commitments.

Question 39

When put together, which types of division of labour constitute the majority of couples' experiences?

A) the specialist and delegated types.
B) egalitarian non-gendered and equitable types.
C) egalitarian non-gendered and the specialist types.
D) the husband-helper type and the traditional type.
E) the husband-helper type and the specialist type.

Question 40

Among dual-career couples

A) fathers and mothers share childcare equally.
B) mothers do more childcare than fathers.
C) fathers do more childcare than mothers.
D) most childcare is delegated to employed caregivers.
E) most childcare is delegated to grandparents.

Question 41

In the 1950s, the wife's employment at the middle-class level contributed to a reducation in marital satisfaction because

A) women's earnings were then only 30 percent of men's.
B) women were relegated to menial occupations.
C) appropriate changes in gender roles at the cultural level had not yet occurred.
D) people were afraid of the consequences of feminism.
E) it was believed that children were being neglected.

Question 42

By the 1980s,

A) husbands became more accepting of their wives' employment.
B) children were helping at home far more than in the past.
C) wives' salaries became equal to those of their husbands.
D) husbands started sharing equally in child care when their wives were employed.
E) husband's were actively resisting sharing in domestic labour.

Question 43

As husband's participation in domestic labour increases

A) both spouses report higher levels of marital happiness.
B) husbands report higher level of marital happiness and wives report lower levels.
C) wives report higher levels of marital happiness and husbands report lower levels.
D) both spouses report lower levels of marital happiness.
E) both spouses report higher levels of conflict.

Question 44

The household division of labour in remarriages with stepchildren who visit

A) tends to be a very pleasant experience for the stepmother.
B) often tends to make the stepmother feel like she is a real mother.
C) tends to exist at the non-traditional level.
D) tends to create conflict between spouses.
E) tends to be egalitarian.

Question 45

Wives are not necessarily more invested in the ____ of their marriage than husbands, but they are more invested in its ______ maintenance .

A) quality; stability
B) duration; sexual
C) happiness; long-term
D) duration; economic
E) stability; quality

Question 46

An example of women doing more emotional work may include

A) women being more emotional than men and crying more easily.
B) women falling in love more easily than men.
C) women working harder at maintaining relationships.
D) women's recognition that the division of labour concerning child care can be unfair.
E) women persuading men to share in household work and childcare.

Question 47

Why is the research about same-sex couples methodologically flawed?

A) only questionnaires are used to gather data.
B) same-sex couples are challenging for researchers to find.
C) same-sex couples often dissolve their partnerships during the course of the research study.
D) research samples are not representative of the homosexual community.
E) there are few homosexual research scientists who can carry out the research.

Question 48

Which of the following statements provides the best explanation concerning 'parents who have a good marital relationship tend to have children who have better outcomes.'

A) Such parents are likely to be affluent. We have seen that poverty is related to marital strife and negative child outcomes.
B) In such families, children have good role models; they more easily learn how to get along and behave in a more pro-social manner.
C) Such parents tend to be older and more mature and their children will also be more mature.
D) Such parents are likely to spend more time together; therefore, they do not notice when their children have problems, and do not report these problems to researchers.
E) Such parents are more likely to spend large amounts of time with children.

Question 49

Discuss the role of culture in defining the five types of couple relationships.

Question 50

Summarize the state of knowledge concerning emotional work.

Question 51

Explain how a couple could be well adjusted on a marital basis, yet have a relatively low score on marital happiness. Use material on types of marriages to answer the question.

Question 52

Older couples experience a fairly high level of marital satisfaction. There are at least two explanations for this elevated level of marital happiness in the older years. What are they?

Question 53

Explain how the household division of labour as a microsociological process is related to social stratification by gender.

Question 54

Use behaviour genetics to explain why, on average, children turn out better when their parents have a happy relationship.