Salesforce Certified Data Architecture Practice Test

In Salesforce, a master-detail relationship signifies a strong connection between two objects, where the child object is tightly bound to the parent object. This relationship has important implications for data integrity and lifecycle management.

When a master-detail relationship is established, the child object's lifecycle is directly tied to the parent object. This means that if the parent record is deleted, all related child records will also be deleted automatically—this is known as cascade delete. Furthermore, the child record cannot exist without a parent record; it must have a parent to be valid. This is critical in maintaining the integrity and consistency of data, ensuring that child records are always linked to a corresponding parent.

Additionally, properties of the master-detail relationship, such as sharing settings and security permissions, are inherited from the parent object, which helps in centralized data governance. Therefore, the defining characteristic of a master-detail relationship is the strong dependency of the child on the parent, which is reflected in the option that correctly identifies that child objects are tightly bound to their parent.