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Study Guide

Field 040: Family and Consumer Sciences
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Subarea 1—INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY LIFE

Objective 001
Understand the characteristics of families.

1. Which of the following changes within a family is most likely to occur when a child reaches adolescence?

  1. The adolescent and his or her siblings will grow apart as their experiences differ more and more.
  2. The adolescent and his or her parents will be able to relate to one another as adults.
  3. The adolescent will take on more responsibility while his or her parents give him or her more freedom.
  4. The adolescent will rely increasingly on his or her parents for emotional support.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 002
Understand the characteristics of interpersonal relationships.

2. Which of the following best explains why children are increasingly able to form close relationships with age-mates as they progress from early to middle childhood?

  1. They become less self-centered.
  2. They are less dependent on caregivers.
  3. They become less competitive.
  4. They are less fearful of rejection.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 003
Understand human growth, development, and aging throughout adulthood.

3. Which of the following best describes the influence of social factors on the cognitive functioning of people who have passed retirement age?

  1. The more satisfied people are with their position in the community, the less likely they are to exert themselves intellectually.
  2. People who stay socially active tend to remain intellectually proficient longer than people who become socially inactive.
  3. The more responsible the position a person held prior to retirement, the more likely that individual is to retain intellectual competency.
  4. People who have experienced the loss of family members tend to experience diminishing intellectual capacity.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 004
Understand the development of human sexuality.

4. Partners who engage in heterosexual sexual activities should be aware that:

  1. the risk of pregnancy is greatly increased during the period of the female's menstruation.
  2. pregnancy is not a risk if no penetration takes place.
  3. the risk of pregnancy is greatly decreased during the third week of the female's menstrual cycle.
  4. pregnancy is always a risk, even when using birth control.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 006
Understand strategies for individuals and families experiencing change and transitions.

5. C. J., a 21-year-old college student, is planning to move back into her parents' home after she graduates in May. She has lived away from home during college, and she and her parents are concerned that they may experience some conflict when C. J. returns to the family home. To avoid such conflicts, which of the following steps should the family take?

  1. C. J. and her parents should discuss and negotiate expectations and household rules prior to C. J.'s return.
  2. C. J. should recognize that in her parents' house, she will need to follow the same rules that she followed before college.
  3. C. J.'s parents should plan to provide C. J. with the same freedoms that she experienced while she was away at college.
  4. C. J. and her parents should view one another as independent adults and avoid judging one another's behavior.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 007
Understand the rights and responsibilities of individuals and families toward each other.

6. A six-year-old boy lives with his mother. An allegation is made that the mother's boyfriend has physically abused the boy. In these circumstances, the mother's legal responsibility to her son is to:

  1. file a complaint against the boyfriend with the local police.
  2. make certain that the boy is never alone with the boyfriend.
  3. take any steps necessary to protect her son from potential abuse.
  4. determine whether the allegation of abuse is true.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 2—PARENTING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Objective 008
Understand the stages, characteristics, and implications of physical, motor, cognitive, social, and emotional development in children and adolescents.

7. Which of the following best explains why, compared with first- and second-grade students, older children have a significantly greater ability to perform memory tasks?

  1. First- and second-grade students have not yet developed simple reasoning skills.
  2. Older children are better able to link information that they are learning to existing knowledge.
  3. First- and second-grade students are unable to follow sequences of events.
  4. Older children are better able to distinguish ways in which objects differ from one another.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 009
Understand preparation for parenthood.

8. A young woman is expecting her first child. Although she is taking a parenting course through a local community agency, she is insecure about her ability to be a "good mother." Which of the following additional steps would best help this woman feel more confident about her role as a mother?

  1. spending time with parents whose parenting skills she admires and observing how they care for their children
  2. enrolling in a course about child growth and development at a local college or university
  3. reading a wide variety of textbooks and journal articles about parenting and specific parenting challenges
  4. volunteering to help organize after-school programs for children at a local elementary school
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 010
Understand the roles, rewards, demands, and responsibilities of parenting.

9. The parents of a seventh-grade girl learn that their daughter has been physically harassed and intimidated by another girl at her school. Their daughter also tells them that this individual has stolen her and other students' lunch money on several occasions. The parents can respond most appropriately to this information by:

  1. reporting the incidents of bullying to the school authorities and requesting that appropriate steps be taken to address the problem.
  2. encouraging their daughter to stand up to the bully by enrolling her in a self-defense class that would train her to succeed in a physical confrontation with the other girl.
  3. contacting the parents of the bully to inform them of the problem and request that they take action to stop their daughter's bullying behavior.
  4. suggesting that their daughter minimize her interactions with the bully at school by ignoring the girl and avoiding her whenever possible.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 011
Understand the role of communication in parent-child relationships.

10. A two-year-old child often engages in temper tantrums, throwing himself on the floor and screaming when he does not get his own way. Which of the following would be the most effective way for the child's parents to discourage this behavior?

  1. insisting that the child articulate his needs without resorting to disruptive tantrums
  2. distracting the child during the tantrum by offering to play a game or read a book
  3. ignoring the behavior as much as possible and offering comfort when the tantrum has ended
  4. anticipating and satisfying the child's need for attention before the tantrum begins
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 3—INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY HEALTH, NUTRITION, AND WELLNESS

Objective 012
Understand factors that influence the achievement of personal wellness.

11. Many adults say that they cannot fit in three 30-minute sessions of exercise per week because it interferes too much with their family time. The most effective way to solve this problem while promoting family wellness is to:

  1. try to exercise late at night or at other times when the family is occupied.
  2. establish family rituals, such as an after-dinner walk, that involve physical activity.
  3. create time for exercise by asking other family members to take on additional responsibilities.
  4. try to find opportunities throughout the day to exercise for a few minutes.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 013
Understand strategies and techniques for maintaining personal wellness.

12. Regular and vigorous participation in physical activity helps prevent osteoporosis because it:

  1. stimulates the release of growth hormones, which slow down the process of bone ossification.
  2. causes a greater force transmission from muscles to bones via the tendons, thereby lengthening tendons and bones.
  3. strengthens the muscles, allowing them to better support and absorb shock for the bones.
  4. causes more minerals to be deposited into the bone matrix, increasing bone density and strength.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 015
Understand the effects of nutritional choices on personal wellness.

13. For the last month, a slightly overweight adult has been walking for a half-hour three times a week in an attempt to lose weight but has not been successful. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for this individual's difficulty in losing weight?

  1. The individual's body is at its "set point" and is resisting going below that weight.
  2. The individual has not been eating a balanced diet based on the food guide pyramid.
  3. The individual's body has not yet adjusted to exercise and is clinging to fat in starvation mode.
  4. The individual is still consuming more calories than he or she is burning through exercise.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 016
Understand individual and institutional rights and responsibilities regarding health care.

14. Which of the following strategies would best help ensure clear communication with a health care provider?

  1. asking questions and taking notes to be sure you understand and remember everything that is discussed
  2. maintaining your own records of the prescriptions that you have taken
  3. knowing the information that is in your medical records and using it to make good decisions about your care
  4. asking the office support staff for a copy of the health care provider's notes
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Subarea 4—FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND CAREER ENVIRONMENTS

Objective 017
Understand the interrelatedness of family, career, and community roles and responsibilities.

15. Deacon's elderly father has recently moved in with him, and Deacon is eager to provide his father with a comfortable living environment. Deacon works full time and is an active volunteer in the community. While he must continue to work full time to support himself and his father, he is willing to sacrifice and rearrange other components of his life to accommodate this new responsibility. Deacon's revised life plan is most likely to be workable over time if he includes:

  1. specific goals he hopes to achieve in his career.
  2. plans for leisure time and opportunities for pursuing personal goals.
  3. a set time after which he can resume his life as it was before his father moved in with him.
  4. a goal to find volunteer opportunities for his father.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 018
Understand skills developed in individual, family, community, and career roles.

16. As a child grows and changes, the child's parents have to adjust their parenting strategies to accommodate the child's changing wants, needs, and abilities. As a result, parents are most likely to develop the ability to:

  1. maintain control over the behavior of others.
  2. remain calm in any situation.
  3. approach challenges with creativity and flexibility.
  4. recognize special skills in other people.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 020
Understand the effect of the environment on human needs.

17. Which of the following decorating strategies should be used to avoid having a small bedroom feel cramped and cluttered?

  1. hanging clusters of small paintings on the wall to make the walls appear larger
  2. installing a picture rail eight inches below the ceiling to make the room seem taller
  3. choosing sheer curtains instead of drapes to increase the amount of natural light in the room
  4. selecting large pieces of furniture and accessories to give a sense of generous space
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 5—CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Objective 021
Understand the role of the consumer in the world economy.

18. In which of the following situations would consumer behavior most likely cause inflation?

  1. Consumers cut back on spending and retail inventories increase.
  2. Increased consumer purchases prompt suppliers to produce greater quantities of goods and services.
  3. Interest rates increase and institutional and consumer borrowing declines.
  4. Suppliers are producing at full capacity and consumer demand exceeds supply.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 023
Understand factors affecting the management of individual and family resources.

19. Tomas and Juanita are the parents of three children aged six, ten, and fourteen. In delegating household duties, they hope to use assigned tasks as a means of helping their children develop skills and habits that will be useful in other areas of their lives. At the same time, they want to ensure that the jobs are likely to be completed. Which of the following would be the most appropriate way for them to achieve these two aims?

  1. having the children compete to see who can complete the most work
  2. basing work assignments on the abilities and preferences of each child
  3. rotating work assignments among the children every few weeks
  4. decreasing the work assignment when a child fails to complete a task
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 024
Understand responsible resource selection and consumption behaviors.

20. Which of the following actions on the part of a seller would constitute consumer fraud?

  1. making gross exaggerations about the item being sold in a way that is clearly intended to be humorous
  2. informing the buyer of a defective feature of the item being sold but failing to specify the full cost of repairing the defect
  3. wrongfully misrepresenting the item being sold to someone other than the buyer
  4. deliberately concealing negative facts about the item being sold
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.