Concept of Childhood and Adolescence — Quiz

Q1. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) considers a child to be a person in the age group

• A. 6 to 14 years
• B. Below 21 years
• C. Below 14 years
• D. 0 to 18 years

Q2. The State's duty to provide early childhood care and education to all children until they complete the age of 6 comes from

• A. Article 21A of the Constitution
• B. the Right to Education Act, 2009
• C. Article 45 of the Constitution
• D. the Juvenile Justice Act

Q3. The Indian Mines Act defines children as those

• A. below 12 years
• B. below 14 years
• C. between 6 and 14 years
• D. below 18 years

Q4. Across countries, legal-adulthood ages vary. The pairing that matches is

• A. India 18, Iran 15, Scotland 16, Japan 20, Egypt 21
• B. India 21, Iran 18, Scotland 18, Japan 18, Egypt 18
• C. India 18, Iran 18, Scotland 18, Japan 18, Egypt 18
• D. India 14, Iran 16, Scotland 14, Japan 18, Egypt 21

Q5. The concept/term 'adolescence' was introduced at

• A. the beginning of the 18th century
• B. the middle of the 19th century
• C. the end of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century
• D. the middle of the 20th century

Q6. Adolescence emerged as a distinct life-stage mainly because of

• A. improvements in medical diagnosis of puberty
• B. a global rise in the average age of marriage
• C. religious reform movements in non-industrial societies
• D. schooling, laws restricting child labour and child-protection Acts following the industrial revolution

Q7. The term 'puberty' is used to denote

• A. the time when a child attains physical and sexual maturity
• B. the two-year period that precedes physical maturity
• C. the legal age of becoming an adult in India
• D. the age at which schooling becomes compulsory

Q8. The stage characterised by forming new relationships with the opposite sex and peer groups and the development of a separate identity from parents is

• A. early adolescence (10-13 years)
• B. early childhood (6-10 years)
• C. mid adolescence (14-15 years)
• D. late adolescence (16-18 years)

Q9. An Indian mother is contrasted with a Kaluli mother (from Papua New Guinea). Kaluli mothers hold their babies facing outward mainly because

• A. their houses have many small internal rooms
• B. Kaluli infants need extra sunlight for vitamin D
• C. Kaluli adults do not believe in eye contact with babies
• D. they live in one large house with no internal walls, so children are prepared to be aware of the whole social community

Q10. During a play session with a toy car, mother A says, 'This is a car. It has nice wheels. You can play with it.' Mother B says, 'I give it to you. Now give it to me. Yes, thank you.' Mother B is most likely

• A. an Indian mother focusing on emotional tie
• B. a western mother teaching cognitive properties of objects
• C. a Kaluli mother facing the child outward
• D. a Japanese mother socialising the child for cultural norms of polite speech and interpersonal aspects

Q11. The eighteenth-century philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau considered childhood to occur between

• A. birth and twelve years
• B. birth and seven years
• C. birth and three years
• D. six and fourteen years

Q12. Sunita, a primary teacher in Rampur, has children from very different backgrounds in her class — a domestic worker's daughter, a shopkeeper's son and a farmer's child. She should remember that

• A. all children of the same age experience childhood in the same way
• B. the legal age of 6-14 fully captures the experience of all her children
• C. experiences of children differ because each child has different conditions to live in; one single definition of childhood is incorrect
• D. only the family, not the teacher, can address differences in children's experience

Q13. In Samoa, the traditional rite of passage into adolescence is an elaborate tattooing process performed between ages 14 and 16. For boys this process lasts

• A. 5 to 6 days
• B. 2 to 3 weeks
• C. 2 to 3 months
• D. 1 full year

Q14. The concept of childhood is

• A. a social construction according to contemporary socio-constructivist theorists.
• B. universally the same across different cultural contexts.
• C. that children are born evil and have to be civilized.
• D. that children begin with nothing at all and their characteristics are shaped entirely by environment.

Q15. Which of the following statements about adolescence is NOT correct?

• A. Adolescence is a social construction.
• B. Adolescence is generally considered to begin with puberty – the process that leads to sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce.
• C. Adolescence is a developmental transition between childhood and adulthood entailing physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes.
• D. Children across different cultures usher in and experience adolescence in a similar manner.