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By Meagan, September. 24. 2009 18:15

The Assignment:
There are several parenting styles in which a child can group up under.  By interviewing a few friends of my own it was my duty to classify and explain these styles with my real life examples (my friends).  No names will be used, only letters A-E to represent each case in the classifications and explanations.

Parenting Styles:
There are three main parenting styles and if you read About.com there is an additional parenting style that is lists – making the total four.  To give you a general idea of each style see the list below.

Authoritarian: Parents set rules and regulations, usually quite high, and failure to follow results in punishment.
Authoritative: Parents set rules and regulations; however it is a much more democratic style.  Parents are assertive     not intrusive.
Permissive: Also referred to as indulgent parents; their demands are few and these parents are much more responsive to their children.
Uninvolved: In short, these parents are uninvolved, unresponsive, and uncommunicative.

The Cases:
A- A’s parents were very nurturing.  As the first and oldest child by 2 years, she was given the necessary attention for development during the critical period in a child’s life.  A’s younger sibling and A grew up in a close family atmosphere that was authoritative.  Chores were expected, rules were placed for around the house, grades were expected to be above average, manners were taught and expected to be upheld.  Still, A’s mother was very creative and both parents encouraged creativity and being active outdoors.  
B- B’s parents were much like A’s however, B was the youngest child of three.  The style of parenting tended to lean towards more the authoritarian since rules were much stricter, and the best was expected of B at all times.  While as a student and person in general, B is very well functioning, smart, etc his family life is not as nurturing and communicative as when they were a child. 
C- I would classify C to be exactly the same as case A -parents were authoritative. However, C did note that when it came to grades and school in general their parents were VERY strict. Otherwise, they were encouraged to make decisions, think for themselves in order to become strong independent individuals, but were still strong in their family community. 
D- Case D is the first to differ a bit from the rest.  D described the following: “my mother was nurturing, but my father not so much.”  None the less they had one parent that was authoritative at least.  Their father was more borderline uninvolved.  If I am correct it was not that the father was involved – strong marriage that is still existent today- however, he was located geographically elsewhere from D most of the time and still is today.  The parenting style was a strong instilled one considering D is the youngest of 5, all of which shared chores and worked together constantly as a family. 
E- This case differs the most significantly from the rest of the cases.  While E’s parents were warm, E describes neither of them to be very responsive.  The parents were divorced, and with a father working late nights and a mother living elsewhere the rule centered/democratic parenting styles were not steadily implemented.  Connections were formed later in high school years, but were not all that strong.  So the question is what category does this/these parent style(s) fit into? It shows that E’s parents did try in some ways to exert an authoritative parenting style, though it did not prove to be effective [according to E].  However, they were not completely uninvolved, since some efforts were indeed made. In my best efforts, I would describe E’s parents to be a cross between the two styles of authoritative and uninvolved.

The Question:
Do any of the cases I interviewed about their childhoods reflect their personalities now? Well, considering none of them have kids I am unable to evaluate if their parenting styles are similar to the way they were raised.  However, I think it is safe to say that the level of responsiveness that each case received from their parents does indeed reflect in their personalities in some ways.  Whether it be that they are naturally commanding, value their grades, or are slightly distant – each reflects something from their parents’ style of raising them.  On the flip side however, their experiences by peers has also had just as much an effect almost balancing the results of parents vs. peer influence as mentioned by the textbook.