Public Policy and the Family Question Bank
Course Introduction
This course examines the intersection of public policy and family life, exploring how government actions and societal trends shape family structures, roles, and well-being. Students will analyze key policy areas such as marriage, parenting, work-family balance, childcare, healthcare, and poverty through historical and contemporary lenses. Emphasis is placed on evaluating the effectiveness and equity of policies affecting diverse families, considering factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, race, and cultural background. By integrating theoretical frameworks with real-world case studies, the course equips students with the tools to assess policy implications and propose informed reforms to strengthen families in society.
Recommended Textbook
Public and Private Families An Introduction 8th Edition by Andrew J Cherlin
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14 Chapters
682 Verified Questions
682 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/2852 Page 2
Chapter 1: Public and Private Families
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53 Verified Questions
53 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56868
Sample Questions
Q1) The adherents of the symbolic interaction theory see the world as a place where people rarely create and sustain meaning because doing so involves more costs than benefits.
A)True
B)False Answer: False
Q2) There are strong similarities between American families and families in other Western nations.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
Q3) In the United States, there appears to have been a broad cultural shift in the values Americans hold most dear. The general trend has been from an emphasis on ________ to that on ________.
A)personal relationships; obligations
B)parenting; employee relationships
C)personal growth; service to others
D)parenting; self-fulfillment
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The History of the Family
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61 Verified Questions
61 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56867
Sample Questions
Q1) The introduction of the birth control pill corresponded with a drop in the age at which women got married.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Which of the following was one of the characteristics of the True Woman as described by historian Barbara Welter?
A)assertiveness
B)fearlessness
C)piousness
D)talkativeness
Answer: C
Q3) Informal marriage was common in all but which of the following groups:
A)colonists in the Middle Colonies
B)Europeans
C)Mexican Americans
D)Chinese immigrants
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Gender and Families
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56866
Sample Questions
Q1) Most transgender people follow the idea that there are/is
A)only two genders.
B)more than two genders.
C)only one gender.
D)no such thing as gender.
Answer: A
Q2) Of the following which is "gendered"?
A)housework
B)childcare
C)work for wages
D)all of these
Answer: D
Q3) The feminist-influenced branch of men's studies believes that male aggressiveness is
A)a social construct.
B)a biological factor.
C)an evolutionary factor.
D)hormonally influenced.
Answer: A
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Social Class and Family Inequality
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47 Verified Questions
47 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56865
Sample Questions
Q1) Status groups mainly defined by degree of education may be more useful than those defined by class.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Working- and middle-class parents differ in their choice of important child-rearing values primarily because of
A)different job experiences.
B)different educational backgrounds.
C)unequal access to resources.
D)their lack of time to spend with the children.
Q3) How does everyday life reinforce gender differences?
Q4) Membership in a kinship network can perpetuate poverty.
A)True
B)False
Q5) American men are as likely as women to "do the work" of kinship relations. A)True
B)False
Q6) How do husbands and wives decide what social class they are in?
Q7) In what respects is the husband's role within the household minimized in a female-centered kinship system?
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Chapter 5: Race, Ethnicity, and Families
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49 Verified Questions
49 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56864
Sample Questions
Q1) The number of births and deaths among American Indians did not change dramatically between 1970 and 1980. How would you explain the 72 percent rise in their population during this same time period?
A)There was finally a category of Native American to check on U.S.Census forms.
B)There was a high immigration rate from South and Central America.
C)More people began to think of themselves as American Indian and reported themselves to the U.S.Census as that.
D)None of these are true.
Q2) Which of the following is the reason for the prevalence of intermarriages among American Indians?
A)a growing identity crisis among the American Indians
B)the large proportion of American Indians who consider themselves multiracial
C)a growing movement among American Indians to spread their way of life
D)the collapse of the traditional kinship systems of American Indian communities
Q3) What is meant by a "mediating structure", and what does it do for African American families?
Q4) Why do sociologists separate racial-ethnic groups for the study of family?
Q5) Why were early waves of Cuban immigrants more successful over time in the United States than later waves?
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Chapter 6: Sexualities
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47 Verified Questions
47 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56863
Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the family of choice. How might it impact a couple of the same sex?
Q2) Categories such as gay and lesbian are modern creations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Beginning in the late 1800s through 1973, homosexuality was thought to be
A)a physical condition.
B)a psychological illness.
C)a normal sexual activity.
D)a result of environment.
Q4) Discuss the social constructionist perspective on sexuality. How does it differ from the integrative perspective?
Q5) Elaborate on the debate about the origins of homosexuality.
Q6) How has the new emphasis on sexual gratification in marriage in the late twentieth century changed the concept of marriage? Discuss both the advantages and the disadvantages.
Q7) In 1970, the nonmarital birth ratio for 15 -to 19-year-olds was 2:3.
A)True
B)False
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Q8) How is the network of friends of a gay or lesbian couple different from a kinship network?
Chapter 7: Cohabitation and Marriage
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56862
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is one of the components of the marriage market?
A)databases
B)brokers
C)platforms
D)resources
Q2) Describe the differences and similarities between opposite-sex and same-sex couple cohabitation.
Q3) The courtship process was developed in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Two-thirds of all births listed are to cohabiting couples.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe and explain the current context of marriage.
Q6) What is the marriage market, and how does it work?
Q7) How does organized religion support marriage today?
Q8) Explain how marriage is still important today as a symbol of status and prestige.
Page 9
Q9) Explain how the automobile helped change courtship patterns in the United States.
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Chapter 8: Work and Families
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42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56861
Sample Questions
Q1) Face-to-face activity in which one person meets the needs of another who cannot fully care for herself or himself is called
A)personal assistance.
B)nursing.
C)care work.
D)none of the these.
Q2) What kind of benefits for families does a responsive workplace provide?
Q3) The proportion of housework done by husbands in the United States went up dramatically as wives entered the labor market.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The labor market seems to be moving toward longer hours among the college educated and shorter hours among the less well educated.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Canada and many European countries have polices that provide several months leave with at least partial pay for families that have just had or adopted a child. Why do you think this does not occur in the United States?
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Chapter 9: Children and Parents
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56860
Sample Questions
Q1) How does being raised by same-sex parents affect children?
Q2) In studies of white, middle-class families in Iowa who were under economic pressure, Elder and Conger found that fathers in these families
A)were more likely to commit suicide.
B)deserted their wives and children.
C)were irritable and hostile toward their wives and children.
D)served as the strength of the family.
Q3) Two important aspects of U.S. parents' socialization of their children include A)provision of physical and emotional support.
B)teaching both dependence on and independence from the family.
C)religious and secular training.
D)provision for emotional support and exercise of control.
Q4) Most people surveyed in 2003 believed what percentage of children lived in poverty?
A)30%
B)10%
C)35%
D)50%
Q5) Why might studies of lesbian mothers not be as scientifically accurate as other studies?
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Chapter 10: Older People and Their Families
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56859
Sample Questions
Q1) The elderly seem to be gaining not in just living longer, but also living healthier.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following factors has contributed to grandparenthood becoming a distinct stage of life?
A)decline in adult mortality
B)decrease in fertility
C)increased standard of living
D)all of these
Q3) How do family caregivers to the elderly perform a critical public service?
Q4) In 2011, nearly 7.6 million children lived with their grandparents.
A)True
B)False
Q5) As the twentieth century ended, the most common living arrangement among elderly women in the U.S. was to live
A)with a married daughter.
B)alone.
C)in a nursing home.
D)with a married son.
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Chapter 11: Domestic Violence
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55 Verified Questions
55 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56858
Sample Questions
Q1) Describe each of the following perspectives-social learning, frustration-aggression, and social exchange-in terms of their assumptions and limitations as an explanation for domestic violence.
Q2) Attention to rape by husband has been around for many years.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In the New England colonies, enforcement of moral behavior excluded violent acts by husbands against their wives.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A child engages in violent acts immediately after watching a violent television program. This behavior can be best explained by the ________ perspective.
A)social exchange
B)social learning
C)frustration-aggression
D)integrative
Q5) In most instances of domestic violence, the woman is the victim.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Divorce
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56857
Sample Questions
Q1) What are the factors at work that make life difficult for children after the breakup of their parent's marriage?
Q2) What did Cherlin mean when he said that for many adults and children, a divorce does not signal the end of changes in their family lives?
Q3) In the context of child custody, a ________ is one in which one spouse can make decisions without consulting the other partner.
A)joint legal custody
B)third-party custody
C)sole legal custody
D)bird's nest custody
Q4) Describe the major racial and ethnic differences in divorce.
Q5) What are some of the individual risk factors that increase the likelihood of divorce?
Q6) People who marry as teenagers have a lower likelihood of divorce than those who postpone marriage.
A)True
B)False
Q7) What were the effects of no-fault divorce on marriage and the family?
Q8) How does legal custody differ from physical custody in a divorce settlement?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Stepfamilies
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/180994
Sample Questions
Q1) In India, marriages arranged by parents without the consent of their children have increased.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The spread of mass education to the low-income nations has undermined parental control over decisions about marriage and childbearing.
A)True
B)False
Q3) How has parental control changed over the course of the last century?
Q4) Which of the following is part of the global south?
A)Soviet states
B)Canadian provinces
C)Southern European countries
D)Asian nations
Q5) How have family patterns in the United States changed?
A)They have become more diverse since the last half-century.
B)They have converged to a conjugal family system.
C)They have seen a reduction in same-sex and cohabiting couples.
D)They have seen an increase in the percentage of widowhood.
Q6) What are the changing trends in marriages across the world?
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Chapter 14: The Family, the State, and Social Policy
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46 Verified Questions
46 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56855
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following families traditionally has the highest poverty rates?
A)Hispanic families
B)White families
C)African American families
D)Asian American families
Q2) Capitalism is an economic system in which goods and services are produced and sold by the state at subsidized rates.
A)True
B)False
Q3) African American, single-parent families are heavily overrepresented among the persistently poor in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q4) For purposes of discussion on this question, take a stand as either a social conservative or social liberal in the U.S. Congress, and discuss what policies you would support (or oppose) for child care for working parents.
Q5) Discuss some of the trends in the family policy debates of the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. What are the similarities and the differences?
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