ASWB Masters Assessment Concepts Practice Questions
Assessment Concepts makes up 8 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest ASWB Masters practice test. Here are 10 of the 32 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the ASWB Masters content outline (2026 Examination Guidebook). Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with ASWB.
1. A child who was repeatedly abused by caregivers over years is MOST at risk of which kind of trauma?
- A.Secondary trauma
- B.Complex trauma
- C.Acute trauma
- D.Vicarious trauma
Answer: B. Complex trauma results from repeated, prolonged interpersonal trauma, often by caregivers, and affects attachment, emotional regulation and identity. Acute trauma follows a single event.
2. Historical trauma refers to:
- A.Memories recovered in treatment
- B.Trauma from watching the news
- C.A single event in early childhood
- D.Wounds passed across generations
Answer: D. Historical trauma is cumulative emotional harm across generations from massive group trauma such as colonization, slavery or genocide, which can shape current family and community functioning.
3. In family systems theory, a family member who is blamed for the family's problems is called the:
- A.Identified patient
- B.Primary caregiver role
- C.Family hero
- D.Parentified child
Answer: A. The identified patient carries the symptoms of a troubled family system. Family systems work looks at the patterns around that member rather than the member alone.
4. Bowen's concept of differentiation of self describes a person's ability to:
- A.Take sides in family conflicts
- B.Avoid all contact with the family of origin
- C.Stay connected yet think independently
- D.Leave home at an early age
Answer: C. Differentiation is the capacity to stay emotionally connected to the family while thinking and acting independently. Emotional cutoff, in contrast, avoids unresolved attachment by distance.
5. A family whose members rarely talk, show little concern for one another and keep rigid boundaries is described as:
- A.Triangulated
- B.Differentiated
- C.Disengaged
- D.Enmeshed
Answer: C. In structural family theory, disengaged families have rigid boundaries and little emotional connection, so members may not get support when they need it. Enmeshed families have the opposite, diffuse boundaries.
6. Which is an example of a social determinant of health?
- A.Stable housing
- B.Age at diagnosis
- C.A genetic variant
- D.Family history of diabetes
Answer: A. Social determinants of health are the conditions where people live, learn, work and play, such as housing, income, education and safe neighborhoods, which shape health outcomes.
7. A mother repeatedly brings her son to emergency rooms for seizures that no one else has witnessed, and every test is normal. The symptoms stop while he is in the hospital without her. Which DSM-5-TR diagnosis should be considered for the mother?
- A.Functional neurological symptom disorder
- B.Illness anxiety disorder
- C.Somatic symptom disorder
- D.Factitious disorder imposed on another
Answer: D. Falsifying or inducing illness in another person, with deception and no obvious external reward, is factitious disorder imposed on another; the diagnosis goes to the perpetrator, and it is also child maltreatment that must be reported. Somatic symptom and illness anxiety disorders concern a person's own body, not symptoms produced in someone else.
8. Which indicator is MOST associated with child neglect?
- A.Burns in a regular, patterned shape
- B.Constant hunger and poor hygiene
- C.Fear of going home
- D.Sexual knowledge beyond age
Answer: B. Neglect is a failure to provide basic needs, often shown by hunger, poor hygiene, untreated medical needs and frequent absence. Patterned burns point to physical abuse.
9. Under DSM-5-TR, a major depressive episode requires symptoms lasting at least:
- A.6 months
- B.2 weeks
- C.1 week
- D.1 month
Answer: B. A major depressive episode needs five or more symptoms, including depressed mood or loss of interest, nearly every day for at least 2 weeks.
10. Under DSM-5-TR, persistent depressive disorder in a 14-year-old requires depressed or irritable mood on most days for at least:
- A.6 months
- B.2 years
- C.2 weeks
- D.1 year
Answer: D. For children and adolescents, persistent depressive disorder requires depressed or irritable mood for at least 1 year. Adults need at least 2 years, and 2 weeks is the minimum for a major depressive episode.
Practice all 32 assessment concepts questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free ASWB Masters training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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