, Instructor Resource
Weis, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2017
Chapter 1: The Science and Practice of Abnormal Child
Psychology
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Epidemiologists often report the prevalence of a medical or psychological disorder. What is
“prevalence”?
a. the number of people in a population with a given disorder
b. the percentage of people in a population with a given disorder
c. the number of new cases of a disorder in a population
d. the percentage of new cases of a disorder in a population
Ans: B
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. Which of the following is NOT an essential component of the DSM-5 definition of a mental disorder?
a. a pattern of behavior that occurs within an individual
b. a behavior that reflects an underlying dysfunction
c. the consequences of the behavior cause distress or disability
d. the disturbance is long lasting
Ans: D
Learning Objective: LO 1.2. Critically evaluate the DSM-5 concept of “mental disorder” as it applies to
children and adolescents.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: How Does DSM-5 Define a Mental Disorder?
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. How do developmental psychopathologists characterize abnormal behavior?
a. behavior that interferes with children’s competence and does not meet the demands of the
environment
b. behavior that leads to psychological distress, impairment, and risk of harm to self or others
c. behavior that leads to psychological distress, impairment, or risk of harm to self or others
d. behavior that is statistically different than the behavior of the typical child
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.3. Understand and give examples of some of the basic principles of
developmental psychopathology.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Adaptive vs. Maladaptive Development
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. Clinical interventions that are not grounded in psychological science can harm children and families.
Which of the following is NOT a way identified in the text that scientifically uninformed practice can hurt
clients?
a. Ineffective treatments can cause parents to lose hope in psychology and treatment in general.
b. Ineffective interventions can cost parents time and money.
c. Ineffective treatments have been proven to substantially increase the rates of depression in parents.
d. Ineffective treatments can be physically harmful to children.
Ans: C
, Instructor Resource
Weis, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2017
Learning Objective: LO 1.4. Explain why evidence-based practice is important when treating children and
families.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Importance
Difficulty Level: Hard
5. Wakefield’s (1992) concept of “harmful dysfunction” ______.
a. provides criteria for differentiating normal from abnormal behavior
b. requires all mental disorders to have an underlying biological cause
c. asserts that genetic and biological factors play a greater role in psychopathology than social-cultural
factors
d. assumes that a biological or medical cause of a person’s psychopathology has been ruled out before a
psychiatric diagnosis is assigned
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.2. Critically evaluate the DSM-5 concept of “mental disorder” as it applies to
children and adolescents.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: How Do We Identify “Abnormal” Behavior in Children?
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. Which of the following is true of students providing services to children in need?
a. If students have been trained to provide evidence-based treatment, the treatment will be effective.
b. Students should not question the evidence for the intervention or the ethics behind the intervention.
c. Once students have been trained to provide an intervention, it is safe and ethical for them to do so
without supervision.
d. It is recommended that students ask themselves whether there are alternative services that might
provide greater benefits to the clients than the ones being provided.
Ans: D
Learning objective: LO 1.4. Explain why evidence-based practice is important when treating children and
families.
Answer Location: How Can Students Help Children in an Evidence-Based Manner?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. Which of the following statements about prevalence is true?
a. Point prevalence can never be less than lifetime prevalence for a given disorder.
b. Point prevalence can never be more than lifetime prevalence for a given disorder.
c. Only lifetime prevalence measures the percentage of people with a disorder at each age.
d. Only point prevalence measures the severity of people’s disorders.
Ans: B
Learning Objective: LO1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies as
a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Hard
8. Which of the following is NOT a challenge mentioned in your text when determining prevalence of
mental disorders in children and adolescents?
a. There is no single agency that tracks the prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents.
b. There is no standard definition of what constitutes mental disorder.
c. Epidemiological studies use different methods to collect data, each of which yields a slightly different
result.
d. Some people do not want to participate in lengthy surveys, or provide inaccurate information.
Ans: B
, Instructor Resource
Weis, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2017
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity; LO 1.2. Critically evaluate
the DSM-5 concept of “mental disorder” as it applies to children and adolescents.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Medium
9. How has the overall prevalence of mental health disorders among children changed over the past
several decades?
a. It has increased.
b. It has decreased.
c. It has remained unchanged.
d. It increased initially and then decreased to former levels.
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Easy
10. Which of the following is true of comorbidity?
a. It is rare.
b. It refers to the experience of having one disorder, recovering, and then having a different disorder.
c. It is especially common in individuals with depression.
d. It is much more common in children than in adolescence.
Ans: C
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Hard
11. Medication used to treat a psychological disorder is called ______.a. psychotropic
b. behavioral
c. neurotropic
d. hallucinogenic
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Use of Medication
Difficulty Level: Easy
12. Which of the following best describes the relationship between psychotropic medication and age?
a. Adolescents are more likely to receive psychotropic medication, even though they are less likely than
young children to experience psychological disorders.
b. Children are more likely to receive psychotropic medication, typically because their psychological
disorders tend to be more severe than adolescents’.
c. Adolescents are more likely to receive psychotropic medication because they are more likely to
experience psychological disorders, and the severity of these disorders tends to be greater than the
severity of children’s disorders.
d. There are no major differences in the rates of psychotropic medication prescriptions between children
and adults.
Ans: C
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Weis, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2017
Chapter 1: The Science and Practice of Abnormal Child
Psychology
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Epidemiologists often report the prevalence of a medical or psychological disorder. What is
“prevalence”?
a. the number of people in a population with a given disorder
b. the percentage of people in a population with a given disorder
c. the number of new cases of a disorder in a population
d. the percentage of new cases of a disorder in a population
Ans: B
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. Which of the following is NOT an essential component of the DSM-5 definition of a mental disorder?
a. a pattern of behavior that occurs within an individual
b. a behavior that reflects an underlying dysfunction
c. the consequences of the behavior cause distress or disability
d. the disturbance is long lasting
Ans: D
Learning Objective: LO 1.2. Critically evaluate the DSM-5 concept of “mental disorder” as it applies to
children and adolescents.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: How Does DSM-5 Define a Mental Disorder?
Difficulty Level: Medium
3. How do developmental psychopathologists characterize abnormal behavior?
a. behavior that interferes with children’s competence and does not meet the demands of the
environment
b. behavior that leads to psychological distress, impairment, and risk of harm to self or others
c. behavior that leads to psychological distress, impairment, or risk of harm to self or others
d. behavior that is statistically different than the behavior of the typical child
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.3. Understand and give examples of some of the basic principles of
developmental psychopathology.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Adaptive vs. Maladaptive Development
Difficulty Level: Medium
4. Clinical interventions that are not grounded in psychological science can harm children and families.
Which of the following is NOT a way identified in the text that scientifically uninformed practice can hurt
clients?
a. Ineffective treatments can cause parents to lose hope in psychology and treatment in general.
b. Ineffective interventions can cost parents time and money.
c. Ineffective treatments have been proven to substantially increase the rates of depression in parents.
d. Ineffective treatments can be physically harmful to children.
Ans: C
, Instructor Resource
Weis, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2017
Learning Objective: LO 1.4. Explain why evidence-based practice is important when treating children and
families.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Importance
Difficulty Level: Hard
5. Wakefield’s (1992) concept of “harmful dysfunction” ______.
a. provides criteria for differentiating normal from abnormal behavior
b. requires all mental disorders to have an underlying biological cause
c. asserts that genetic and biological factors play a greater role in psychopathology than social-cultural
factors
d. assumes that a biological or medical cause of a person’s psychopathology has been ruled out before a
psychiatric diagnosis is assigned
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.2. Critically evaluate the DSM-5 concept of “mental disorder” as it applies to
children and adolescents.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: How Do We Identify “Abnormal” Behavior in Children?
Difficulty Level: Medium
6. Which of the following is true of students providing services to children in need?
a. If students have been trained to provide evidence-based treatment, the treatment will be effective.
b. Students should not question the evidence for the intervention or the ethics behind the intervention.
c. Once students have been trained to provide an intervention, it is safe and ethical for them to do so
without supervision.
d. It is recommended that students ask themselves whether there are alternative services that might
provide greater benefits to the clients than the ones being provided.
Ans: D
Learning objective: LO 1.4. Explain why evidence-based practice is important when treating children and
families.
Answer Location: How Can Students Help Children in an Evidence-Based Manner?
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. Which of the following statements about prevalence is true?
a. Point prevalence can never be less than lifetime prevalence for a given disorder.
b. Point prevalence can never be more than lifetime prevalence for a given disorder.
c. Only lifetime prevalence measures the percentage of people with a disorder at each age.
d. Only point prevalence measures the severity of people’s disorders.
Ans: B
Learning Objective: LO1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies as
a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Hard
8. Which of the following is NOT a challenge mentioned in your text when determining prevalence of
mental disorders in children and adolescents?
a. There is no single agency that tracks the prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents.
b. There is no standard definition of what constitutes mental disorder.
c. Epidemiological studies use different methods to collect data, each of which yields a slightly different
result.
d. Some people do not want to participate in lengthy surveys, or provide inaccurate information.
Ans: B
, Instructor Resource
Weis, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2017
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity; LO 1.2. Critically evaluate
the DSM-5 concept of “mental disorder” as it applies to children and adolescents.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Medium
9. How has the overall prevalence of mental health disorders among children changed over the past
several decades?
a. It has increased.
b. It has decreased.
c. It has remained unchanged.
d. It increased initially and then decreased to former levels.
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Easy
10. Which of the following is true of comorbidity?
a. It is rare.
b. It refers to the experience of having one disorder, recovering, and then having a different disorder.
c. It is especially common in individuals with depression.
d. It is much more common in children than in adolescence.
Ans: C
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Overall Prevalence
Difficulty Level: Hard
11. Medication used to treat a psychological disorder is called ______.a. psychotropic
b. behavioral
c. neurotropic
d. hallucinogenic
Ans: A
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Use of Medication
Difficulty Level: Easy
12. Which of the following best describes the relationship between psychotropic medication and age?
a. Adolescents are more likely to receive psychotropic medication, even though they are less likely than
young children to experience psychological disorders.
b. Children are more likely to receive psychotropic medication, typically because their psychological
disorders tend to be more severe than adolescents’.
c. Adolescents are more likely to receive psychotropic medication because they are more likely to
experience psychological disorders, and the severity of these disorders tends to be greater than the
severity of children’s disorders.
d. There are no major differences in the rates of psychotropic medication prescriptions between children
and adults.
Ans: C
Learning Objective: LO 1.1. Describe the prevalence of childhood disorders and how prevalence varies
as a function of children’s age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicity.
