MSW Human Growth and Development 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Havighurst's developmental task theory proposes that:
- Development is entirely determined by unconscious drives
- Each life stage has specific tasks that must be mastered for healthy development (Correct answer)
- Cognitive growth stops at adulthood
- Social roles are irrelevant to developmental success
Correct answer: Each life stage has specific tasks that must be mastered for healthy development
Havighurst argued that healthy development requires successfully accomplishing stage-specific tasks arising from biological maturation, social expectations, and personal aspirations.
Question 2: According to Diana Baumrind's parenting styles research, the authoritative parenting style is associated with:
- High demandingness and low responsiveness
- Low demandingness and high responsiveness
- High demandingness and high responsiveness (Correct answer)
- Low demandingness and low responsiveness
Correct answer: High demandingness and high responsiveness
Authoritative parenting combines high expectations with warmth and responsiveness, and is consistently linked to the most positive developmental outcomes in children.
Question 3: Which of the following is an example of a 'risk factor' in child development?
- Strong social support network
- Exposure to chronic household poverty (Correct answer)
- Presence of a stable, caring adult
- High neighborhood cohesion
Correct answer: Exposure to chronic household poverty
Chronic poverty is a well-documented risk factor that can negatively affect cognitive, social, and emotional development across childhood.
Question 4: The concept of 'emerging adulthood,' proposed by Jeffrey Arnett, describes:
- The transition from infancy to toddlerhood
- A distinct developmental period between adolescence and full adulthood, roughly ages 18–25 (Correct answer)
- The mid-life crisis experienced in the forties
- The onset of puberty in early adolescence
Correct answer: A distinct developmental period between adolescence and full adulthood, roughly ages 18–25
Arnett proposed emerging adulthood as a distinct stage characterized by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between, and a sense of possibilities.
Question 5: A social worker is assessing an older adult client who reports difficulty remembering recent events but has intact long-term memory. This pattern is most consistent with:
- Normal age-related changes in episodic memory (Correct answer)
- Frontotemporal dementia
- Korsakoff syndrome
- Delirium secondary to infection
Correct answer: Normal age-related changes in episodic memory
Normal aging commonly involves some decline in episodic memory (recent events) while procedural and remote long-term memory often remain relatively preserved.
Question 6: In Bandura's social learning theory, 'self-efficacy' refers to:
- An individual's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors needed to achieve specific outcomes (Correct answer)
- The process of reinforcing desired behaviors with rewards
- A child's ability to delay gratification
- The modeling of behavior through observation of others
Correct answer: An individual's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors needed to achieve specific outcomes
Self-efficacy is one's belief in their own ability to perform a specific task or behavior, and it strongly influences motivation, behavior, and resilience.
Question 7: Selective optimization with compensation (SOC), a model developed by Baltes, is primarily applied to understand:
- Children's academic coping strategies
- Adolescent identity formation processes
- How older adults maintain functioning by focusing on key goals and compensating for losses (Correct answer)
- How infants develop sensorimotor skills
Correct answer: How older adults maintain functioning by focusing on key goals and compensating for losses
SOC theory describes how older adults adapt to aging by selecting fewer goals, optimizing their resources, and compensating for declining capacities.
MSW Human Growth and Development 4
Havighurst's developmental task theory proposes that: