er her father to her mothers permissive-indulgent parenting style. She believes her mother selected this method to somehow give her children the freedom they never had previously. However, it had negative effects. Ann in retrospect claims that her mother lost all control over her six children. The family grew apart, fighting constantly. This radical change gave Ann no limitations, no boundaries for her actions. In fact, she still has problems dealing with issues of control today because of it. When I asked Ann to distinguish between her life at home prior to and post separation, I was surprised to realize that she favored some qualities before. For instance, she claims that her siblings were all closer prior to the divorce. In her words when they were forced to We all had to eat together like one big happy family. Also, she feels that she may have attended college under the controlling rule, something which she has no intention of doing. My interviewee attended a catholic school from kindergarten to junior high. She enjoyed this school because it was small and everyone was acquainted with one another. She claims that while going through the divorce, her life at school was the only thing that remained constant. She had close relationships with her teachers and believes they were positive role models for her. In fact, she was involved in many school activities. I must conclude that because of this warm and nurturing environment that Ann speaks of, she must have had a more positive self-image at that time. She had to have felt somewhat equal with her peers to be able to participate in social activities. A major disruption in Anns life was leaving her small school to attend a public high school with over 3000 students. She experienced a severe case of depression and loneliness associated with the top dog phenomenon. Most of her friends enrolled in different high schools and she was going to attend a hig...
