Preparing
for the Final Exam:
Revised 3 May 2007
The final exam covers all the material of the semester, including all
the readings and lectures.
The exam includes multiple choice items, short answer questions, and
half-page essays.
You will be expected to recognize, compare, and apply the concepts of
the develecological framework to familiar material, the readings, and
new examples.
You do not need to memorize any of the readings, but should be familiar
with each of them. The questions that relate to the readings will
not be picky, but will require that you understand the concepts from
the readings and can interpret them in develecological terms.
You will have as much time as you need to complete the exam.
Study
Questions for Readings:
Bronfenbrenner:
Explain each of his Propositions in each article.
Carerre & Gottman:
How do they predict whether a couple will stay married or
divorce?
Chess & Thomas:
Explain the notion of "goodness of fit" in terms of the microsystem and
the parent-child relationship.
Coontz: How are
changes in the macrosystem affecting families?
DeAngelis:
Explain what happens in the ecosystem when stepfamilies are formed, and
how they might affect the developing child.
Devita-Raeburn:
Describe the relation, role, activities, and microsystem pattern
associated with "Lust for the long haul."
Galinsky: For
each stage of parenting, describe the major tasks of the parent and how
these are shaped by the development of the child. Describe the
transition from each stage to the next and explain why it happens.
Garbarino & Abramowitz:
Hhmmm. There's a lot in this chapter, but it may not be crucial
for the final exam.
Hetherington:
Explain each lesson she learned from her years of studying families.
Hetherington:
Translate each type of marriage she describes into its relational
elements.
Hodder: Explain
the ecosystem changes that are changing marriage in our culture.
Honig: Honig
gives many recommendations for raising children. Explain each
recommendation in develecological terms: what does each mean for
the ecosystem of the child and how would it be helpful to the child's
development?
Marano: What
should happen before divorced people remarry, and why?
Nance-Nash: What
happens, develecologically, when two formerly married people marry and
create a "blended" family?
Pierce:
Interpret the challenges to parenting in ecosystem terms.
Renkl: Explain why
birth order would have any connection to the development of
personality. How would birth spacing contribute?
Robbins, et al.:
Explain the relation between the role occupied by Indian
grandparents and the macrosystem.
What molar activities are involved in carrying out their role.
Schwartz:
Describe the relationship happy couples have, using develecological
concepts.
Slater: In what
sense is romantic love a good molar activity?
Strauss:
Describe spanking in develecological terms. What could spanking
be expected to do to the parent-child relation? How does being
spanked affect a developing child's later behavior and
relationships? Why?
Underwood: How
would the ecosystem be different to enable couples to divorce happily?
Practice
Exercises from Review Sessions:
1. How will your ecosystem change as the semester ends?
2. How will your summer ecosystem be different?
3. What will happen when/if you return in the fall?
4. How does the ecosystem change when a grandparent moves into a
household?
5. How does the ecosystem change when a parent loses a job?
6. What happens to a family's ecosystem when a child develops a
serious illness?
7. What happens to a college student's ecosystem when a parent
remarries?
8. Using develecology, how would you design your transition from
college to make it as beneficial to your development as possible?