This paper was completed for Dr. Wilkum's Family Communication class. It analyzes and examines how parenting styles shape the messages, behaviors, and relational patterns that develop within families and how children carry and mirror those communicative patterns into their adulthood. I analyzed Diana Baumrind's four parenting styles through the lens of Family Communication Patterns Theory to understand how communication directly influences children's emotional, social, and psychological development. Additionally, I analyzed how both the intentional and unintentional messages that parents send can either foster independence, confidence, and healthy emotional intelligence or create a mindset that leads to insecurity, conflict avoidance, or strain on relationships. 

This artifact satisfies the Communication Studies program outcome of Critically Analyzing Messages, as it required me to examine communication patterns, such as nonverbal and verbal communication, between parents and children through academic research and evaluate/analyze how those messages shape long-term emotional, social, and psychological development.