SSW Child Development 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to Erikson's psychosocial theory, the primary developmental conflict for school-age children (ages 6-12) is:
- Trust vs. Mistrust
- Initiative vs. Guilt
- Industry vs. Inferiority (Correct answer)
- Identity vs. Role Confusion
Correct answer: Industry vs. Inferiority
Erikson identified Industry vs. Inferiority as the core conflict for school-age children, centered on competence and mastery of skills.
Question 2: A 10-year-old consistently struggles to understand that pouring water from a wide glass into a tall thin glass does not change the amount of water. This child is likely lacking:
- Object permanence
- Conservation (Correct answer)
- Seriation
- Centration
Correct answer: Conservation
Conservation is the Piagetian concept that properties like volume remain constant despite changes in appearance, typically mastered in the concrete operational stage.
Question 3: Which temperament category describes a child who is slow to adapt, withdraws from new situations, and has intense negative moods?
- Easy temperament
- Slow-to-warm-up temperament
- Difficult temperament (Correct answer)
- Inhibited temperament
Correct answer: Difficult temperament
Thomas and Chess described 'difficult' temperament as characterized by irregularity, withdrawal from novelty, slow adaptability, and intense negative moods.
Question 4: Language development research shows that the 'vocabulary explosion' typically occurs at approximately:
- 6-9 months
- 10-12 months
- 18-24 months (Correct answer)
- 36-42 months
Correct answer: 18-24 months
The vocabulary explosion, where children rapidly acquire new words, typically occurs between 18 and 24 months of age.
Question 5: A school social worker notices a student who frequently blames others, lacks empathy, and has difficulty maintaining friendships. These behaviors are most associated with deficits in:
- Gross motor development
- Theory of mind (Correct answer)
- Phonological awareness
- Visual-spatial processing
Correct answer: Theory of mind
Theory of mind—the ability to understand that others have different thoughts, feelings, and perspectives—underlies empathy and social relationship quality.
Question 6: Bronfenbrenner's ecological model places the child's immediate family and school environment in which system?
- Macrosystem
- Exosystem
- Mesosystem
- Microsystem (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Microsystem
The microsystem includes the immediate settings in which a child directly participates, such as family, school, and peer groups.
Question 7: A 7-year-old who can arrange sticks from shortest to longest is demonstrating which cognitive ability?
- Transitive inference
- Seriation (Correct answer)
- Class inclusion
- Egocentrism
Correct answer: Seriation
Seriation is the ability to arrange objects in order along a quantitative dimension, such as length or size, and emerges in the concrete operational stage.
SSW Child Development 2
According to Erikson's psychosocial theory, the primary developmental conflict for school-age children (ages 6-12) is: