Deck 6: Partnering and Marriage Formation

Question 1

Without exception, across societies, the median age at marriage is higher for the grooms (males) than the brides (females).

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The crude marriage rate is the best indicator of the likelihood that adults will get married.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Generally, the smaller the group, the greater the probability of intermarriage.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Arranged marriages are most likely to take place in societies with traditional economies.

Question 5

Over the past several decades, the general trend around the world in age at marriage appears to be slightly lower or to remain constant.

Question 6

High sex ratios are positively associated with the proportion of women who marry and inversely associated with women's average age at marriage.

Question 7

The general marriage rate is based on the number of persons in the population who are eligible to marry.

Question 8

In the United States, quite literally, people are free to marry anyone they choose.

Question 9

Overall, males are more likely to be married than females.

Question 10

Compared to singles, married people are more likely to drink moderately, avoid risk-taking behavior, and lead more scheduled life-styles.

Question 11

Norval Glenn and others present evidence that the institution of marriage, in terms of stability and quality, is as strong as ever.

Question 12

It is likely that the median age for marriage approaches the highest that has ever existed in the United States.

Question 13

Public opinion polls show that married men are more satisfied with their marriages than are women.

Question 14

Studies indicate that the unmarried are generally happier and less stressed than the married.

Question 15

The median age at first marriage has decreased significantly over the past 50 years.

Question 16

The United States, along with most societies in the world, approaches a "free-choice" model of mate selection.

Question 17

The marriage rate in the United States is similar across categories of sex and race.

Question 18

Over half of all marriages take place on a Saturday.

Question 19

In general, marriage rates tend to drop during depressions and increase following wars.

Question 20

Exogamy describes marriages and relationships between individuals who belong to the same sociocultural group.

Question 21

Which of the following groups has the highest proportion of married persons?

A) black females
B) black males
C) white males
D) Hispanic males

Question 22

Homogamous partners with no religious affiliation appear to be more stable than marriages of persons with exogamous religious affiliations.

Question 23

Black males tend to marry white females more frequently than white males marry black females.

Question 24

The text suggests that interracial marriages serve as an indicator of the relationship among racial groups.

Question 25

Most interracial marriages in the United States occur between blacks and whites.

Question 26

Research tends to support the idea that interfaith marriages have a secularizing effect on children, that is, children who are weakly religious.

Question 27

Marriage rates appear to go down

A) at the outset of a major war.
B) in the immediate postwar years.
C) under periods of economic recession and depression.
D) under all of the above three conditions.

Question 28

As of the writing of the text, the median age at first marriage in the United States was

A) 20.8 for males, 18.1 for females.
B) 22.8 for males, 20.1 for females.
C) 24.8 for males, 23.1 for females.
D) 27.7 for males, 26 for females.

Question 29

Offspring of cross-racial marriages have been found to have lower self-esteem than their single heritage peers.

Question 30

Protestants tend to not only marry other Protestants, but to marry those who share the same denominational affiliations as well.

Question 31

Hypogamy is more prevalent than hypergamy.

Question 32

A Gallop Poll in the early 1990s revealed that a substantial majority of respondents (78 percent) said they approve of marriage between blacks and whites.

Question 33

Evidence suggests that religion has become a more significant factor than education in mate selection.

Question 34

The number of marriages per 1,000 population is referred to as the

A) crude marriage rate.
B) general marriage rate.
C) refined marriage rate.
D) marriage ratio.

Question 35

The mating gradient results in an excess number of unmarried women at the higher classes and unmarried men at the lower classes.

Question 36

There is no evidence to support the idea of a pure race or the idea that racial mixtures result in biologically inferior offspring.

Question 37

Evidence suggests that women married to younger men tend to live longer than expected while women married to older men tend to die sooner than expected.

Question 38

Which of the following is generally not an explanation as to why males tend to marry younger females?

A) the excess of males through the early twenties
B) the mating gradient
C) the increase in the employment of women
D) the males slower physiological maturity

Question 39

Educational endogamy has been found to be more important than social-class origins in partner selection.

Question 40

Age-discrepant unions more susceptible to dissolution, especially if the wife is older.

Question 41

Interfaith marriages are most frequent among

A) those religiously less devout.
B) Protestants.
C) Catholics.
D) Jews.

Question 42

The mating gradient works to prevent marriage for many

A) highest status women and lowest status men.
B) highest status men and lowest status women.
C) middle status men and middle status women.
D) promiscuous men and unattractive women.

Question 43

Women married to younger men tend to:

A) Die sooner than expected.
B) Live longer than expected.
C) Grow old faster.
D) Be wealthy 'cougars.'

Question 44

The tendency for people to marry someone similar to themselves more often than could be due to chance is referred to as

A) assortive mating.
B) Russian roulette.
C) mesalliance.
D) hypergamy.

Question 45

Marriages are more likely to occur on:

A) Sundays
B) Saturdays
C) Fridays
D) Tuesdays

Question 46

In terms of group size, the larger the group relative to other groups,

A) the greater the sex ratio.
B) the lower its intermarriage rate.
C) the less the marriage squeeze.
D) all of the above three factors take place.

Question 47

The incest taboo is an example of

A) assortive mating.
B) an exogamous norm.
C) the mating gradient.
D) hypogamy.

Question 48

The mating gradient suggests that

A) high school and college senior women have the largest pool of eligible dating partners.
B) women seek out lower status men and men seek out higher status women.
C) intermarriage is more frequent than intramarriage.
D) none of the above applies to the mating gradient.

Question 49

A set amount paid by the bride's family to the family of the groom is known as:

A) bride price
B) dowry
C) spousal support
D) none of the above

Question 50

National data suggest that religious endogamy in the United States is highest for

A) Jews.
B) Protestants.
C) Catholics.
D) Muslims.

Question 51

From an exchange theory perspective, the social advantages of hypergamy seem to exist primarily for the

A) high status man.
B) low status man.
C) high status woman.
D) low status woman.

Question 52

An investigation of 111 countries showed that high sex ratios are positively associated with

A) a woman's older age at marriage.
B) the proportion of women who marry.
C) male infanticide.
D) polygyny.

Question 53

The seasonal low for marriage in the United States tends to occur in

A) January, February, and March.
B) April, May, and June.
C) July, August, and September.
D) October, November, and December.

Question 54

The marriage squeeze describes

A) pressure to marry that young people experience.
B) the combined consequences of hypogamy and hypergamy.
C) a recommended expression of affection for newlyweds.
D) an imbalance between the number of males and females in the population.

Question 55

Mesalliance refers to marriage

A) to the wrong person.
B) with a person in a lower social position.
C) between an older person and a much younger one.
D) between incompatible men and women.

Question 56

A study in the Netherlands of five settings where couples meet revealed that __________ provided the most forms of homogamy.

A) voluntary associations
B) neighborhoods
C) work places
D) schools

Question 57

Which of the following changes in marital happiness was reported by Norvall Glenn?

A) An increase in happiness of never married males and a decrease in happiness of married females.
B) An increase in happiness of never married females and a decrease in happiness of married males.
C) A decrease in happiness of never married males and an increase in happiness of married females.
D) A decrease in happiness of never married females and an increase in happiness of married males.

Question 58

In industrialized countries, the age at marriage is:

A) rising.
B) widely variable.
C) remaining constant.
D) falling.

Question 59

Factors that contribute to hypergamy appear to be

A) the physical attractiveness of a female.
B) a high socioeconomic status of a female.
C) a female who comes from a stable family background.
D) All of the above contribute to hypergamy.

Question 60

The lowest marriage rates appear to be in __________.

A) Northeast
B) Northwest
C) South
D) Mid-West

Question 61

The trend in interracial marriage over the past several decades is

A) downward.
B) upward.
C) about the same with little change up or down.
D) very unstable with increases in some decades and decreases in others.

Question 62

The pattern of mesalliance in which a female marries into a higher social stratum is known as __________.

Question 63

Compared to their single-heritage peers, children of cross-racial/cross-ethnic marriages have been found to

A) have lower self esteem.
B) feel more alienated.
C) have better relations with single-heritage groups than single-heritage groups have with one another.
D) Both A and B above are true.

Question 64

The ________ marriage rate is based on the number of persons in the population who are eligible to get married in a given year and corrects for the fact that two people are involved in every marriage.

Question 65

A marriage __________ hypothesis suggests that marriage provides a buffer against physical and emotional pathology.

Question 66

Most interracial marriages in the United States occur between

A) black men and white women.
B) white men and black women.
C) Japanese and Filipino men and white women.
D) Japanese and Filipino women and white men.

Question 67

Removal of the legal prohibition against interracial marriage in the United States came in

A) 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
B) 1863, with the freeing of slaves.
C) 1954, in the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
D) 1967, with a Supreme Court decision that declared a Virginia law unconstitutional.

Question 68

The highest rates of divorce and marital instability tend to occur among

A) those with no religion.
B) those with different religions.
C) those with the same religion.
D) those who convert to the religion of their partner.

Question 69

By day of the week, more marriages take place on __________ than any other day.

Question 70

The number of males per 100 females is the __________.

Question 71

The ________ marriage rate is the number of marriages per 1000 in the population.

Question 72

The tendency for women to seek out similar or higher status men and for men to seek out similar or lower status women is called the __________.

Question 73

In research, __________ definitions are used to define variables according to the way they are measured.

Question 74

According to the discussion in the text on interracial marriage,

A) these restrictions remain the most inflexible of all the partner selection boundaries.
B) these marriages are not accepted socially anywhere in the world.
C) most countries permit them legally, but only under stringent age and class conditions.
D) they are illegal in more than half of the states in the United States.

Question 75

The marriage _____________ describes the effects of an imbalance in the sex ratio, or the number of males in the population relative to the number of females.

Question 76

In regard to interfaith and intrafaith marriages, the least stable and highest divorce rates occur among those who are __________.

Question 77

Black-white intermarriages in the United States

A) have been decreasing over the past decade.
B) are considerably more common than other types of interracial marriages.
C) most frequently involve a black husband and white wife.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 78

The tendency for people to choose those like themselves more often than could be due to chance is known as __________.

Question 79

__________ describes marriage to a person outside of one's own sociocultural group.

Question 80

Based on a Gallop Poll in the early 1990s, which statement is true about the approval of interracial marriage?

A) Whites were more likely to approve than blacks.
B) Males were more likely to approve than females.
C) Those over age 50 were more likely to approve than those under age 30.
D) The less educated were more likely to approve than the higher educated.